Slate Blogs

Is the GOP the Real Party of Women?

J. Bryan Lowder — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:27:52 GMT

In this election year, there’s no doubt that women are a hot property—like the Boardwalk in Monopoly hot. Both the Democrats and Republicans are falling all over themselves to claim the title “party of women,” while accusing the other of being a charlatan. Politico hosted the latest rejoinder yesterday, when a group of 14 House GOP women (including Michele Bachmann) wrote an op-ed arguing that their “big tent” is where all the ladies want to be.

Campaign Love Notes: The Ballad of Lilly Ledbetter

J. Bryan Lowder — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:36:09 GMT

Remember Lilly Ledbetter, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. manager who sued her employer for unequal pay after 19 years of work only to have her claim denied under a statute of limitations? Well if you don’t, President Obama will be happy to remind you.

Why TLC’s My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding Doesn’t Represent the Romani

Oksana Marafioti — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:35:00 GMT

Editor's Note: This is a response to Torie Bosch's recent DoubleX article on the TLC show My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding, which was very controversial within the Romani community. Oksana Marafioti is the author of American Gypsy: A Memoir.

The Plight of the Lady Quiz-Bowler

Lauren O'Neal — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:16:09 GMT

Reading Alan Siegel’s story on quiz bowl, I was thrilled to recognize so many facets of my own college quiz bowl years: the desk-slapping of frustrated players, the never-ending crusade to balance in-depth knowledge and rote memorization, and even Yale team member Kevin Koai, a friend of mine from when we were both on the Stanford team as undergraduates. But there was one key part of my experience Siegel didn’t cover: what it was like to be a female quiz bowler in an overwhelmingly male setting.

The Mental Illness That Gets Little Sympathy

Amanda Marcotte — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:53:30 GMT

In the New York Times Magazine this weekend, Jennifer Kahn took a hard look at a mental disorder so disturbing that dealing with it honestly is incredibly rare: psychopathy. Many people probably aren't even aware that "psychopath" isn't just a term for someone with a crappy personality, but is a disorder that's believed to be biological in origin, where the sufferer just basically can't feel empathy. Kahn focused on the parents of fledgling psychopaths, parents whose situation should cause extreme sympathy, since attempts to treat this condition have largely been fruitless.

Girls on Girls: Why Don’t We Ever See Marnie’s Breasts?

Hanna Rosin — Mon, 14 May 2012 02:45:00 GMT

Hanna Rosin: The Slate boys—Dan Kois, more specifically, was thrilled by that final Adam masturbation scene in which Hannah "takes charge," as he put it. And by the narrative arc of the scene, we were pulled along to feel that. Hannah actually "finds her voice," as Carol Gilligan might say. She banishes the hesitant, ironic Cabbage-Patch girl-hooker of fantasies past and taps into her inner dominatrix. It was thrilling to hear that bossy voice come out of her mouth ... and so it took me a couple of days to ask myself, thrilling why, exactly? What did Hannah get out of that encounter? A couple of scenes earlier she was telling people Adam was her boyfriend. And now here she was again, locked into a bit role in his show. I wish Meghan were with us this week to tell me how narrow minded I am, but what do the rest of you say?

Is Baby Hair a New Front in the Mommy Wars?

J. Bryan Lowder — Sun, 13 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

We often think of mothers as selfless, nurturing givers. But as this week's Time magazine cover suggested, some mothers may be a little too comfortable in that kind of role. Are mothers really only good for extraction, nutritional or otherwise? Slate's Holly Allen thinks not, and in the images above, she and her husband used their adorable twin babies and Photoshop to extract some entertainment of their own from parenthood.

Bachmann Accused of "Treason" for Swiss Citizenship

Libby Copeland — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:36:02 GMT

Michele Bachmann’s short-lived experiment as a Swiss citizen ended awkwardly this week, when her beloved philosophy of American exceptionalism came back to bite her in the tushy. It turns out the far right concluded that her brief bout of dual citizenship made her anti-American. Remember that this is the congresswoman who skyrocketed to fame on an accusation that Barack Obama was anti-American. Oh, the irony!

NARAL President Steps Aside, Wants More Young Leaders

Amanda Marcotte — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:26:18 GMT

The big story isn't that Nancy Keenan, the head of NARAL, has stepped down. It's an important story, sure, but the nature of big organizations is that they endure leadership changes pretty frequently. No, the amazing part of this story is why Keenan made the decision she did. According to an interview with Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post, Keenan decided to step down in order to prevent the further graying of the pro-choice movement, a problem she had come to symbolize and a problem she is bravely trying to fix. Keenan believes the movement will continue to lose ground unless young women are promoted out of the anonymous grunt work positions and into leadership positions, and hopes her resignation will create that opportunity.

Why Obama’s Motivations for Supporting Gay Marriage Don’t Matter

J. Bryan Lowder — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:41:04 GMT

Amanda, your point that many Americans are increasingly apathetic about gay rights (in a good way!) is wonderfully incisive. The risk posed to the president’s re-election campaign by his speaking in support of gay marriage yesterday is minimal; anyone who is going to have a hissy fit about the issue had already consigned Obama to the pro-marriage-equality side anyway. And as Linda Hirshman wrote in Slate, even the black community—which has been held in suspicion regarding gay rights since the accusation that they facilitated the passage of Proposition 8 in California—isn’t likely to abandon the “miracle of Grant Park” over this “evolution” of heart. In light of these basic political considerations, it could be tempting to dismiss yesterday’s announcement as little more than a Biden-forced outing of a pre-polled position or, perhaps worse, a mere fundraising ploy.