Not all of us have had ideal parents, and sometimes long after we’re out of their sphere of influence, the damage they’ve done remains. I certainly fall into the category of someone who still is affected by what happened in her childhood, and the damage was enough that I worried that I’d do the same to my daughter. (more…)

To do: (more…)

This post originally appeared on July 30, 2012. 

Or: “Juniper reads Fifty Shades of Grey and was utterly appalled.”

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Just when I thought I’d never have to hear about this trainwreck of a book again, they’ve apparently made a trainwreck of a movie out of it, and it’s coming out on Valentine’s Day. How… romantic?

Anyway, you shouldn’t watch this movie, and you should encourage everyone you know not to watch it either. Here’s why. (more…)

All the news that Ladyblogland found interesting this past week.

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In which fashion is tone deaf not once, but twice. (more…)

Words are not enough to express the sense of loss I felt after hearing of Dr. Maya Angelou’s death yesterday morning.

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persephonemagazine.com

Happy Wednesday, everybody! Lots of good news this week, from asteroids that aren’t going to kill…

persephonemagazine.com

This week had a strong mix of analysis, fun and dancing.

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Earlier this week, thousands of Egyptian women took to Cairo’s streets in the largest women’s protests in Egyptian history, surpassing  Huda Shaarawi’s demonstration in 1919. The anger in the air was palatable, with chants reported by the New York Times like, “Drag me, strip me, my brothers’ blood will cover me,” "The daughters of Egypt are a red line," and “The girls of Egypt are here." It was estimated that 10,000 women marched from Tahir Square, demanding the current ruling Egyptian military to step down after evidence of widely circulated abuses aimed at Egyptian women.

In a world where homophobia still has its gnarly roots in almost every culture, gay rehabilitation centers are predominantly still thought of as a U.S.-based phenomenon, even though the practice of trying to “correct” homosexual behavior is not a new or U.S.-centric concept (see South Africa, Jamaica, and well, just about every country). But buried deep in Ecuador, often beyond the tourist attractions and somewhere between the forests and the beaches, lie almost 200 rehabilitation clinics, often publicly known as drug rehabilitation centers, where LGBTQ citizens are sent to be “cured” of their homosexuality through an advertised means of "intense rehabilitation." There are many people, often ex-patients and survivors, who would severely disagree with the cure. According to survivors, these clinics are using forms of torture like those mentioned above, along with corrective rape as a means to “cure” and rehabilitate lesbian women (reports are now coming forward that there are gay men in the clinics as well).