New research (PDF) from the London School of Economics says that, when it comes to fighting climate change, investing in contraception is five times more effective than technologies such as wind and solar power. Meeting basic family planning needs along the lines suggested would save 34 gigatonnes (billion tonnes) of CO2 between now and 2050 […]
Ann Friedman
Ann Friedman is a columnist for New York magazine’s website and for the Columbia Journalism Review. She also makes pie charts for The Hairpin and Los Angeles magazine. Her work has appeared in ELLE, Esquire, Newsweek, The Observer, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and many other outlets. She lives in Los Angeles, but travels so often the best place to find her is online at annfriedman.com.
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RU-486 HASN’T IMPROVED ABORTION ACCESS.
The Guttmacher Institute released new research that shows the abortion pill (mifepristone, still known by some folks as RU-486) hasn’t broadened abortion access in the United States. One of the reasons that feminists worked so hard to get the FDA to approve mifepristone is that they hoped it would be a way for your average […]
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EMPOWERING THE WORLD’S WOMEN.
I was excited to see the package of articles in The New York Times Magazine yesterday on the state of women’s rights globally — it’s an issue that feminists bring up repeatedly, but one that tends to get little traction in major media outlets. Times columnist Nick Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn, authors of […]
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AFGHAN ELECTION: LEGITIMATE FOR WHOM?
A group of women gather at the National Stadium, where Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke at a rally in Kabul. Photo by (The Washington Post/Nikki Kahn) As Adam pointed out earlier, many people are questioning whether it’s even possible to hold a “legitimate” election in Afghanistan tomorrow given the potential for low turnout due to […]
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Nativism Versus Security
When police become immigration enforcers, everybody loses.
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WHEN BOOZE AND GENDER COLLIDE!
In lieu of Lightning Round, lager! Last week, Dana pondered whether Gates-gate had anything to do with masculinity. While I admit I didn’t immediately see the Gates arrest in terms of gender, Obama‘s choice to defuse the tension by inviting them over for a beer did seem gendered to me. You know, just dudes and […]
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AGAINST THE CURRENT.
It’s nice to know that, even as our cultural standards deteriorate to the point where bare midriffs (and, for heaven’s sake, abayas!) are acceptable at the splash park, the Derb maintains his devotion to the tasteful one-piece. –Ann Friedman
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MICHAEL JACKSON’S TURNING POINT.
The Chicago Reader has posted a piece from its archives about the day Bad was released. It’s not only a great late-80s pop-culture time capsule but a fascinating snapshot of how music fans saw Michael Jackson. Pete, lithe and black, with his hair squared like Grace Jones’s, takes a black magic marker and draws an […]
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SOTOMAYOR NOT MEANER, JUST FEMALER.
Serious props to NPR’s Nina Totenberg today. Rather than simply reporting about “concerns over Sonia Sotomayor‘s temperament” or allegations that she’s a “bully,” Totenberg actually compared audio clips of questions asked by Sotomayor and those asked by her male colleagues — or those who would be her colleagues if she is confirmed for the Supreme […]
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DOJ RECONVENES THE CLINIC VIOLENCE TASK FORCE.
Earlier this week, in the wake of Dr. George Tiller‘s murder, I wrote: Tiller’s death is a wake-up call to the fact that our existing laws and regulatory bodies to protect against clinic violence aren’t working as well as they should. As written, FACE provides a lot of protection for reproductive health providers. But we […]
