Stories by Courtney E. Martin
Courtney E. Martin is the author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: How the Quest for Perfection is Harming Young Women. You can read more about her work at www.courtneyemartin.com.
If it had been Lehman Brothers and Sisters, would the financial meltdown have shaken out in the same way?
Posted on Jun 27, 2009
At least 4.8 million Iraqi refugees are struggling for every day survival. We don't have time for more reports or pretty graphs. We must act now.
Posted on Apr 23, 2009
The era of the singular feminist agenda is over. But that doesn't mean gender-based activism is.
Posted on Apr 6, 2009
In a democracy, people depend on one another to make rules that benefit everyone. Author Deborah Stone discusses how the GOP destroyed that reality.
Posted on Oct 24, 2008
Teen pregnancy is nothing new. So what made the Gloucester girls such a big story?
Posted on Aug 12, 2008
The Maternal Is Political, a new anthology, explores the transformation of and challenges facing the motherhood movement.
Posted on Aug 8, 2008
The media portrays female suicide bombers as coerced, but the factors that drive women to strap on explosives are often the same that drive men.
Posted on Aug 6, 2008
Recent steps legalizing gay marriage have made me reevaluate my aversion to the institution. But I still have my doubts.
Posted on Jul 31, 2008
Author Keli Goff on how today's youth -- black youth in particular -- choose their leaders. Hint: It's not by skin color or party affiliation.
Posted on Jun 26, 2008
At a stimulating confab on the election, our author declares: My feminism is about gender and racial justice, global security and community ethics.
Posted on Jun 18, 2008
Rebecca Walker is a well-known third-wave feminist and daughter of author Alice Walker. So why is she adopting anti-feminist talking points?
Posted on Jun 13, 2008
Progressives need to make sure that young people's excitement over the primaries turns into long-term civic engagement.
Posted on Jun 9, 2008
Author Amy Richards explains how to close the gap between feminist ideology and our daily lives.
Posted on May 21, 2008
Author Benjamin Percy discusses masculinity, fiction writing about Iraq, and how he got into writing to impress a girl.
Posted on Feb 21, 2008
I was unequivocally pro-choice, but I resented women who had uncomplicated relationships with abortion. I was jealous.
Posted on Jan 22, 2008
Why teenagers are so screwed up about sex and their bodies.
Posted on Dec 20, 2007
Author Gary Taubes challenges common myths about obesity and explains why Atkins might well have been right.
Posted on Dec 12, 2007
Could more distance be the key to keeping the passion in long-term relationships?
Posted on Nov 28, 2007
It's time to stop treating obesity as the problem of a lazy individual.
Posted on Oct 17, 2007
Is the confirmed rise in suicide rates among young people, particularly girls aged 10-14, linked to a decrease in prescription antidepressants?
Posted on Sep 25, 2007
Locking men out of conversations about abortion often comes at a great expense.
Posted on Sep 6, 2007
It is inexcusable that television networks, one of the best public sites for widespread education about safer sex, is acting coy at the cost of young women's fullest lives.
Posted on Jul 12, 2007
An interview with the author of
Sisterhood Interrupted provides historical context for contemporary feminist infighting: the overblown mommy wars, raunch feminists and their older, horrified detractors, and bloggers virtually ripping one another apart.
Posted on Jun 12, 2007
Can the diet industry be prosecuted into warning labels and public education efforts the way the tobacco industry has been?
Posted on May 24, 2007
Thinness and beauty are prerequisites for perfection, which to today's young women appears to be the only road to happiness. Under that logic, women's bodies have become places where that drive for perfection -- however self-destructive -- gets played out.
Posted on Apr 18, 2007
Why is The Secret, an Oprah Winfrey-endorsed documentary film and book package with a simplistic message that leads to more consumerism, topping Amazon's bestselling DVD list?
Posted on Mar 26, 2007
Are feminists obligated to support a political candidate just because she's a woman?
Posted on Feb 26, 2007
Who you love and how you love them is as much a statement about your social conscience as the letters you write to Congress or the votes you cast. It's harder to be good to someone else.
Posted on Feb 14, 2007
The majority of working moms who leave their jobs do so because of inflexible office policy, not Martha Stewart fantasies.
Posted on Dec 20, 2006
An increasingly popular doll with genitalia and pubic hair offers an alternative to Barbies for a gift that can educate about sexuality without damaging body image.
Posted on Dec 13, 2006
A new book praises hyper-achieving 'alpha girls.' But their behavior may be symptomatic of a larger trend in outwardly high-achieving and inwardly self-hating young women.
Posted on Nov 16, 2006
I want to tell my working-class students that the American Dream isn't all it's cracked up to be. But maybe I shouldn't question their belief that hard work will bring success.
Posted on Oct 3, 2006
An evening at the New Life Church gives the author a clue to how evangelical right-wing Christians are attracting 'Generation Me.' PLUS: A video interview with the author.
Posted on Aug 8, 2006
You were right about many things, but feminism doesn't have to be either sappy or serious.
Posted on May 12, 2006
While overachieving girls are knocking on the front doors of America's best colleges, admission officers are letting their slacker brothers slip in the back door.
Posted on Mar 29, 2006
America is allegedly in the midst of an obesity epidemic, but our obsession with weight is the real disease.
Posted on Mar 2, 2006
One of America's oldest domestic violence shelters has opened a gender-neutral search for a new director -- and hired a man in the interim. Some feminists are far from happy.
Posted on Aug 23, 2005
