https://zawn.substack.com/p/why-is-patriarchy-so-obsessed-with “We tell women deprived of sleep and support in the postpartum period that their exhaustion must be due to their crazy woman hormones. When girls enter puberty—and the world of dehumanization and male abuse it brings—we pretend their distress is due to vague “puberty hormones.” And when, after a lifetime of exploitation, women are …
Category: feminism
Sep 02 2026
Fighting Words (fiction from Fighting Words)
She was so tired of it. They all were. Every day, as they walked from one classroom to the next, or to the cafeteria, or to the gym, “Hey, ho!” “Gonna do me?” “C’mere, I got somethin’ for you!” Then from school to the bus stop. “Y’all jus’ bitches, you know that, right?” “She’s …
Aug 22 2026
How We Survived (a story from Fighting Words)
How We Survived (a story from Fighting Words) You’re wondering how it happened. How did we survive? How did our population suddenly plummet from six billion to half that. Enabling our natural resources to recover and, eventually, support us. All of us. In 2020, all of the indicators pointed to our imminent extinction. We …
Jun 19 2026
I’m not a feminist, but …
“But how often, still, do we hear women anxiously asserting ‘I’m not a feminist, but …’ as they go on to make claims that depend upon, and would be impossible without, a feminist groundwork?” from Feminism: A Very Short Introduction, Margaret Walters
Jun 18 2026
from I Don’t, Clementine Ford
There’s a lot here and every bit is worth reading. Better yet, just get the book. And read it. Every word. * from blurb for Ford’s I Don’t “why do so many women still believe that our value is intrinsically tied to being chosen by a man?” “Ford explains how capitalist patriarchal structures need …
May 15 2026
Home for Old Hags
Struck by arthritis and its attendant mobility issues, the most worrisome being an increased risk of falling while walking in the forest or on her way down to the water, it hit her: her life would be shorter than most because she’d rather kill herself than live in a so-called retirement village. It was bad …
Apr 24 2026
Suppose that worldwide …
Suppose that worldwide, women flood the military, soon comprising, say, 40% of the ranks (which will be perceived by men as a majority) (go figure). Suppose then, as happened when women flooded the ranks of bank tellers, secretaries, and teachers, being a soldier became devalued, losing its prestige, its glory, its funding, its media coverage. …
Apr 12 2026
Suppose two married women …
Suppose two married women get jobs outside the home at the same time, forcing their husbands to hire someone to do the cooking, cleaning, and childcare. Ten hours/day, 5 days/week, at $20/hr. It’s a lot to afford, but the men have so-called ‘breadwinner’ salaries. Suppose it turns out that Emma is hired by Alyssa’s husband …
Apr 01 2026
Suppose by some biochemical quirk …
Suppose by some biochemical quirk, the hormones we’ve been feeding cows inhibits testosterone in humans, so the more meat men eat, the weaker they become. Suppose that within a year, males lost their 30% physical strength advantage over women. What would happen?
Mar 23 2026
Naomi Alderman’s The Power meets Monty Python’s “Hell’s Grannies”
A man struts and huffs and puffs and expands like a blowfish, but all the old women close their eyes. Deny him the female gaze. Refuse to be a witness to his Almighty Greatness, let alone a cheerleader. And not only does he deflate, he disappears in a puff of, well, nothingness. Existential nothingness. Beauvoir …
fiction
