feminist

Autostraddle

Autostraddle is an online magazine and social network for lesbian, bisexual, and queer women and nonbinary people that offers a wide range of topics -- dating, sex, identity, bodies, food, books, music, crafts, the works! -- and progressive feminist online community.

Hot Girl Hangups: Talking Through the Tension Between Bimbos and Feminism

The bimbo is a product of a misogynistic imagination, a sex object and an ableist stereotype. Her image is tied up in ageism as well, being forever young and childlike. Because the outlines of the bimbo stereotype are so bold, and her character so outrageous, she also makes perfect material for drag and other kinds of gender play and parody. And, because gender is weird, people have begun to mess with language so that people of all genders can play with it as well. But is all of this, like, okay?

2020 In Review: You Were The Worst, But At Least We Did Okay

It feels a fitting start to open this by telling you that in the most 2020 way possible, we -- including me, the founder of this place, who first launched it frozen in my basement apartment with the entirely unuseful radiator in the ceiling  -- forgot our 22nd anniversary earlier this month.

One last birthday card for Scarleteen!

I've been saving this very wonderful birthday-card-of-sorts from the also-very-wonderful Liz for almost a year now, looking for just the right time to post it.  Seeing as we're two days away from the end of this 20th year and our next (our 21st!) birthday, it certainly feels like a good time.

Can I be a feminist and still be a "girly" girl?

Anonymous asks:
I am a teen girl/woman, and I want to be feminist. The problem is that it kind of seems like I'm not *feminist* enough to be feminist. I have long hair, wear dresses and skirts occasionally, and love makeup. It's not like I'm trying to please men or anything, or that I'm trying to wear clothes that "inhibit mobility," it's just something I like....

Happy 20th F#$@&%* Birthday, Scarleteen!

Scarleteen turns 20 years old today. Twenty.

For two decades, we’ve delivered our unique and innovative brand of sex education, despite many financial, legal, political and practical barriers and battles. That kind of tenure for anything on the internet is unheard of, let alone for a grassroots, feminist sexual health, sex and healthy relationships initiative and alternative education project for young people, and one that was (and still is) queer, working class and woman-led.

Centering and serving young people, sexuality and relationships like we do, with inspired quality, care and vision, and doing so independently — and for free — for so long is so rare. Very few organizations and resources have consistently delivered all of what we do, as well as we do, and to as many as we have, for this long.

Where do I even get started in educating myself about sex?

aguynamedrourke
asks:
I'm a 19-year-old virgin and I don't know enough about sex, period. I went to Catholic and Christian schools with terrible sex-ed classes (I learned the basic biology but virtually nothing about actual sex, condoms, safe sex, or anything like that). I looked at your list of books to read and I've browsed through the questions, but I still don't know where to start....

Sometimes, knowing is the whole battle.

This is a guest post from Dances With Engines as part of the month-long blogathon to help support Scarleteen!

Scarleteen is written for young people of all sexes and genders. That they manage to do so with so much consistency and dependability is amazing to me. As I become more conscious of my own binary and oppositional language (men do this, women do that, and only men and women), I get more impressed with Scarleteen.

When I recommend websites to my daughter, or to friends with growing children, I am always questioning—is the language and mission of this site going to be inclusive? Is anyone going to be left feeling like they don’t belong or that someone’s wrong with them? I felt like that, growing up. There were so many reasons I wasn’t human, wasn’t visible.