‘Indian’ Mascots Are a Slap in the Face

‘Indian’ Mascots Are a Slap in the Face

The Washington, D.C. football team is scheduled to play in London later this year. But the controversy over its name has preceded it there. Two members of the British Parliament have asked the NFL to change the R*dskins’ team name — or “at the minimum, send a...
Real Feminists Don’t Tell Women How to Vote

Real Feminists Don’t Tell Women How to Vote

I didn’t look up to Wonder Woman or Lara Croft as a child: I had women like Gloria Steinem. I was the type of girl who cut my dolls’ hair short, insisted girls could do anything boys could, and invented stories where brave female protagonists always outsmarted the bad...
Journalists Should Stand Up for Whistleblowers

Journalists Should Stand Up for Whistleblowers

The Obama administration’s ongoing crusade against government whistleblowers — which culminated last year in the imprisonment of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling — has reignited a debate over the role journalists should play in defending their profession and the...
Public Hoopla over Private Parts

Public Hoopla over Private Parts

As the recent attention lavished on figures like Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner attests, trans visibility continues to rise in the United States. But that doesn’t mean life is suddenly easy for us transwomen. Take something as simple as obeying nature’s call. Trips to...
The Unelectibility Winning Streak

The Unelectibility Winning Streak

To use a phrase that doesn’t come readily to my lips: “Well I’ll be danged.” New Hampshire, that bastion of sensible conservatism and rectitude, gave us not one unelectable candidate, but two — Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Trumpmentum has only edged up since...
America’s Killer Prisons

America’s Killer Prisons

I get a lot of letters from people who’ve been incarcerated, or are now behind bars. Legally I can’t respond directly, because I’m an ex-con myself: I was locked up after blowing the whistle on the CIA’s illegal and immoral torture program. Direct contact with current...