Herstory/History

What happens when somebody else has the institutional power to decide what kind of woman you are—and the power to punish you when you refuse to obey? In 1898, Omaha …

updated from July 31, 2025 The Space Was Never the Argument. The Entitlement Was. Survivor Affirmation Every woman deserves a space that stays hers. Not conditional. Not negotiable. Not something …

Retracing Mattie Michael’s Footsteps: Sometimes We Have to Ask Why We Love the Way We Love There are women we meet in stories who stay with us because we recognize …

updated from May 1 2025 UPDATE: I Learned More About Kitty Genovese I originally published this post in May 2025. At the time, I repeated a version of the Kitty …

This is suicide awareness month. Black people are being found dead and hung in 2026 under awfully suspicious circumstances. Two different terribly tragic truths running side by side. Why would …

Try not to measure an older woman’s courage by doors that had not been built yet. In 1968, *Lorraine is twenty-five years old with two little children and a husband …

Some people do not ask you to understand them. They ask you to stop understanding yourself. Women have historically been asked to perform enormous amounts of kindness: caregiving, smoothing conflict, …

Some of us fell in love with The Joy Luck Club before we ever saw the movie. We carried Amy Tan’s women around in our heads. Mothers. Daughters. Women trying …

Who has to report? Who needs permission? Who gets privacy? Whose feelings matter?Whose movements are recorded? Who must prove herself responsible? Who gets questioned about ordinary adult choices? Who can …

***”Relax. It’s just a word.” In this episode, please notice that while people may be telling you to “lean back” and accept every bit of foolishness flung your way, if …