The Bluestockings
Meet the original Bluestockings, a group of women intellectuals. Their name would eventually become a misogynist epithet -- but it didn't start that way.
Defying the Gender Binary in the 1930s
In the 1930s, experimental psychologist Agnes Landis interviewed women who identified as "tomboys."
How American Soldier Jessica Lynch Became a Symbol
Jessica Lynch was the first woman American POW to be successfully rescued. She became symbolic in ways that had little to do with the facts of her story.
Enfranchisement Is the Only Route to Security
In our final security studies column, our columnist posits that security as a permanent mode of government is actually making Americans less secure.
The Extremely Real Science behind the Basilisk’s Lethal Gaze
According to the extramission theory of vision, our eyes send out beams of elemental fire that spread, nerve like, to create the visual field.
The Tree Huggers Who Saved Indian Forests
The Chipko activists of 1970s and ‘80s India saved their forests by calling attention to the deep interdependence between humans and the natural world.
Voltairine de Cleyre: American Radical
She was a notable anarchist thinker and speaker, but history has largely forgotten Voltairine de Cleyre.
The Untold History of Lynching in the American West
In the aftermath of the Mexican-American War, people of Mexican ancestry were the target of intense racist violence.
How British Teens Blended Pop and Politics
In the 1970s, the National Front blamed immigrants for the UK's economic problems. Anti-racist groups formed in response, with the help of pop music.
“No Unescorted Ladies Will Be Served”
For decades, bars excluded single women, claiming the crowds were too “rough” and “boisterous” and citing vague fears of “fallen girls.”