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We are pleased to kick off the second year of our Bitch Media Fellowships for Writers! The three-month writing fellowships develop, support, and amplify new and diverse voices in feminist and pop-culture media. The fellows write for both online and in the magazine and receive a $2000 stipend. They receive mentorship and support from Bitch cofounder Andi Zeisler. Fellows can be located globally and new writers are encouraged to apply.

Submit your application by September 15th here and visit the FAQ here. Meet the 2016 fellows here. 

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Have you been putting off your pelvic exam? Don’t know what to expect? Erika Moen breaks down what happens during a pap smear and gynecological exams to make them, well, less scary! Read the informative comic here.

Bitch regularly features comic artists Erika Moen & husband Matthew Nolan, who produce weekly comics for their Oh Joy! Sex Toy series on sex, sexuality, and gender. Check out their work. 

For more great resources on pelvic exams, check out Planned Parenthood’s helpful FAQ, why you should get an exam even if you aren’t sexually active, and how to deal with medical trauma.    

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The newest iteration of Star Trek will center around a female lead! Showrunner Bryan Fuller made the announcement last week about Star Trek: Discovery which airs on CBS in 2017. Industry insiders speculate the lead may be a woman of color.

Author Carly Lane is cautiously excited about this announcement: “While there are certainly examples of competent, level-headed women within its universe, there are also a significant number who fit the common tropes of the overly hysterical woman or the cold-hearted Strong Female Character, and there are more who simply serve as plot devices to fuel the development of Kirk, Spock, and other men.”

Read more about the announcement and the history of women on Star Trek here.

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By now, you’ve probably heard about the Kurt Metzger/Amy Schumer debacle. Her comedy has been labelled as feminist, against rape, against ableism, body positive - does this now all change or are we asking her unfairly to represent all of feminism?

Sady Doyle explains: “Most critics aren’t asking Schumer to stop liking Metzger. They’re asking her to stop paying him...Schumer can hang out with Metzger on her own time, but if we want to watch her show without abetting rape culture, Schumer needs to provide us with a show that doesn’t have Kurt Metzger in it.”

More on Metzger’s troubling history of sexism and Schumer’s lack of reponse here.

Photo credit: Amy Schumer

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Hillary Clinton must now open pickle jars to prove she is fit for presidency. Clinton’s been accused of appearing too cold, too emotional, lacking stamina - even taking too many naps. 

“The attempts at leveraging Clinton’s health as a political weapon have escalated, and the stakes are dangerously high. Thus, it’s time to have a reluctant conversation about the brilliantly constructed narrative surrounding Clinton’s nonexistent health problems,” writes author s.e. smith.

Read more about the attacks on Clinton and the history behind discrediting successful women based on inaccurate health claims.

Photo from Jimmy Kimmel Live!

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In the United States, there are 56 million people with disabilities. Polling stations are required by federal law to follow certain steps for accessibility. But many polling places don’t meet even the basic requirements.

“People with disabilities get the IDs...at much lower rates, partially because many disabled people don’t drive. Four states deny the ballot to people who live under guardianship. And 30 states have laws that can ban people from voting who have been considered “mentally incapacitated” by a court,” writes author Alan Montecillo.

Read about the experiences of people with disabilities and voting here.

Photo Credit: Democratic National Convention

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New research shows that trauma-sensitive yoga practice can help alleviate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Writer Mika Doyle, despite her skepticism, participated in a scientific study on the effects of yoga on PTSD, and was pleasantly surprised at the results.

Read about her experience, details of the study, and more on how yoga can help trauma survivors on Bitchmedia.

Photo Credit: Liz West

[bitch-media]

The summer Olympics are in full swing in Rio, and plenty of awesome female athletes are crushing it, but women haven’t always been allowed to compete. Jules Boykoff, in his book Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics, introduces readers to some of the amazing women in the history of the games who fought the International Olympic Committee’s exclusive policies.

Read more about the history of female athletes in the Olympics on Bitch media. 

Photo Credit: Creative Commons

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Ava DuVernay is the first Black woman to direct a Hollywood movie with a budget of over $100 million. She’s directing the upcoming adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time (amazing), which is slated to include a performance by Oprah and come out some time in 2017. Once again, DuVernay is pushing Hollywood forward—how sad is it that no Black woman has had this opportunity before? This is another example where the lack of diversity in Hollywood comes into sharp focus—it’s worth remembering that at the biggest film studios in Hollywood, almost every single top executive is a white man. 

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“With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We as parents are their most important role models. And let me tell you, Barack and I take that same approach to our jobs as president and first lady because we know that our words and actions matter, not just to our girls, but the children across this country, kids who tell us I saw you on TV, I wrote a report on you for school.

Kids like the little black boy who looked up at my husband, his eyes wide with hope and he wondered, is my hair like yours?” —Michelle Obama at the DNC in Philadelphia this week. 

Photo of Michelle by the USDA

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Wise and compassionate Bitch advice columnist Bear reassures a reader concerned about emotional unavailability, losing interest in a relationship, and turning into their father by pointing to the sweetness and depth that can happen when a relationship “becomes real.”

Read more about learning to enjoy a long-term partner when the initial fire starts to cool at Bitchmedia.org.

[bitch-media]

Ghostbusters is a goofy summer action-comedy. Expecting it to be more misses the point, which is not that women make better, cooler, or more feminist Ghostbusters than men, but that we shouldn’t have to expect them to.

If more movies made female characters no big deal then, well, women wouldn’t make a big deal about them. If the film industry funded, mentored, and supported women the way it has always supported men, we wouldn’t make beloved movie franchises into marketplace products that must then be plunked onto the great scales of Good or Bad feminism while we stand back to see where it tips.

Read the rest of Andi Zeisler’s review here.

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Disney just unveiled their first Latina princess–sort of. The team wanted to create a “universal story” but frame it through “culture and traditions that are familiar to the worldwide population of Hispanic and Latino families.” But if we don’t know exactly what culture is inspiring Disney movies and TV, that means we are just reaping the benefits of a culture’s visual language and traditions without giving due credit to origins.

Writer Eva Recinos explains why it’s important to have brown-skinned princesses.., but why reactions to Disney’s newest princess are mixed. 

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Carpool Karaoke with Michelle Obama and Missy Elliott. Whaaaaat! On the Late Late Show, host James Corden and Michelle drive around singing classic songs—and then are joined by surprise guest Missy Elliott for a sing-along to 2001′s “Get Ur Freak On.” 

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The racist harassment of Ghostbusters’ Leslie Jones this week on Twitter is drawing attention to the site’s inadequate responses to abuse of its users. 

“Twitter should work to protect people who are contributing to making the site a place for good discussion, not the “free speech” rights of people who are actively working to undermine and intimidate other users.”

Read more about responses to abusive behavior on Twitter at Bitchmedia.org

Photo Credit: Women, Action, and the Media

[bitch-media]

Gotta catch ‘em all—unregistered voters, that is.

In Ohio, Clinton campaigners are setting up voter registration canvassers at Pokéstops, hoping that people hunting Pokémon will also be lured to register to vote. 

Photo Credit: Naysa Mooney

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With her oddball with, comedian Aparna Nancherla spins dorky puns into absurd rumination on life. Sample joke off her new album: 

“Don’t you think any pizza can be a personal one if you cry while you eat it?” 

Read her interview with Bitch media about jokes, family, and her new comedy album here.