Stories by Amanda Marcotte

Amanda Marcotte co-writes the blog Pandagon. She is the author of It's a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments.

11 Most Absurd Lies Conservatives Are Using to Brainwash America's School Kids

Posted on: Mar 11, 2013, Source: AlterNet

When you can't win, indoctrinate.

The War on Workers' Religious Liberty

Posted on: Aug 1, 2012, Source: RH Reality Check

The fight against the birth control mandate is part of a larger effort to give the boss control over your private life.

1 Flesh: The Christian Group That Pushes Condomless Sex

Posted on: Jul 9, 2012, Source: AlterNet

You’ll never stop people from having sex, but well-placed misinformation could discourage them from taking necessary measures to prevent unintended pregnancy and STDs.

Do People Get Less Religious When Societies Grow More Egalitarian?

Posted on: Jun 25, 2012, Source: AlterNet

When countries embrace progressive social policy, that tends to create a decline in religious belief. Why?

As America Grows More Polarized, Conservatives Increasingly Reject Science and Rational Thought

Posted on: Jun 17, 2012, Source: AlterNet

The Tea Party has intensified social pressure on conservative-leaning Americans to shun science and academia.

How the Christian Right's Homophobia Scares Away Religious Young People

Posted on: May 16, 2012, Source: AlterNet

The Christian right is increasingly out of step with how Americans feel about gay rights. This issue might be the one that destroys them in the end.

Mitt Romney's Plan to Woo Female Voters: Pretend Women Are Very Stupid

Posted on: Apr 12, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Romney seems to assume that women don't care about sexual rights. But reproductive issues impact almost all women.

Why Do Right-Wing Extremists Have the Power to Force Doctors to Humiliate Women?

Posted on: Mar 6, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Legislators are using the mandated ultrasound to scare, insult and humiliate women.

Breasts Yes, Vaginas No? How to Fight Back Against Komen "Race for the Cure" Foundation's Bizarre Capitulation to Right-Wingers

Posted on: Feb 1, 2012, Source: AlterNet

How the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation put their corporation-friendly image before women’s actual health concerns.

Why Evangelicals Don't Care When Rich White Conservatives Defile Marriage

Posted on: Jan 25, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Gingrich doesn’t live by the strict sexual rules laid out by conservatives, because those rules are meant for other people: the poor, Democrats, gays, and minorities.

How Christian Right-Wing Voters in Iowa Make Abortion a Central Issue in the Caucuses

Posted on: Jan 2, 2012, Source: RH Reality Check

To really understand Iowa, you need to understand the primacy of abortion as an issue to the Christian right.

5 Dirty Tricks Right-Wing Zealots Will Likely Try Next in Their Battle to Control Women

Posted on: Dec 28, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Here are some predictions for where the anti-choice movement will try to go in 2012.

Woman Jailed, Ostracized After Resorting to Self-Administered Abortion: What Is This, Puritan America?

Posted on: Dec 14, 2011, Source: AlterNet

When we deprive women of access to abortion, shun them, and even throw them in jail, we as a society become weaker.

Meet 8 Right-Wing Groups Practicing Scorched-Earth Anti-Choice Nuttery Against Women

Posted on: Dec 11, 2011, Source: AlterNet

They’ve sent a strong message to Republicans: It’s not enough to be “pro-life” anymore. They want full-on war on women and sex.

Forced Pregnancy? Right-Wing Women's Group Thinks Women Raped in the Military Shouldn't Get Abortions

Posted on: Dec 4, 2011, Source: RH Reality Check

Concerned Women for America claims that allowing military women access to abortion is somehow a "cover-up" of the crime committed against them.

6 Kinds of Sex Scandals: What Should Be Exposed? What Should be Left Private?

Posted on: Nov 30, 2011, Source: AlterNet

What kind of sexual misconduct qualifies as an important news item, and what kind is just scurrilous gossip?

8 Obnoxious Cliches about Men, Women and Sex in Otherwise Good TV Shows

Posted on: Nov 24, 2011, Source: AlterNet

As television becomes more daring, there are still many basic feminist ideas that read as taboo on the small screen.

How Mississippi's Vote Today Could Put Pregnant Women Under State Control

Posted on: Nov 7, 2011, Source: AlterNet

A personhood amendment is a backdoor to stripping away women’s rights -- their very right to be considered autonomous human beings.

4 Reasons the Right-Wing Propaganda Machine Has Failed to Destroy OWS

Posted on: Nov 1, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Less than a year after the 2010 elections, the right-wing is losing its ability to dominate the media's attention. Here's why it hasn't been able to tarnish OWS.

It's 2011 -- Why Is God Still Involved In American Politics?

Posted on: Oct 12, 2011, Source: AlterNet

The Mormon-bashing directed at Mitt Romney should concern everyone for what it reveals about the undue influence of religion in American elections.

Why Are Religious Conservatives So Scared of Gay Sex?

Posted on: Sep 29, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Anti-gay bigotry is just one piece of a larger picture of conservative fear and loathing of all forms of sexuality.

What Awful Reality TV and Suburban Living Have to Do With the Tea Party's Lack of Empathy

Posted on: Sep 20, 2011, Source: AlterNet

The Tea Parties are partly a product of the suburbs, where social isolation leaves communication about social mores to reality TV. Is it any wonder the movement lacks empathy?

Rick Perry's Execution Obsession Feeds the Worst in Human Nature

Posted on: Sep 14, 2011, Source: Comment Is Free

Perry may have lost no sleep over Texas's 234 executions during his tenure, but the death penalty panders to crude bloodlust.

10 Myths Many Religious People Hold About Atheists, Debunked

Posted on: Sep 13, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Atheists are moral, loving and multicultural, and you might even find them in foxholes.

Pushback on Draconian Rick: Stay Out of Women's Sex Lives

Posted on: Sep 1, 2011, Source: Comment Is Free

The Texas governor's ultra-invasive sonogram law was overturned by a court this week, providing an excellent opportunity to examine his awful record on women's rights.

Why You Don't Want Rick Perry Making Decisions About Your Sex Life

Posted on: Aug 22, 2011, Source: RH Reality Check

The belief that sex is "immoral" pushes Conservatives to support abstinence-only, sex-is-immoral education and policy, even though it is proven to be harmful.

Michele Bachmann vs. Rick Perry: Who's the Bigger Right-Wing Extremist?

Posted on: Aug 18, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Who really deserves a reputation as too much of a right-wing extremist for the Beltway media to take seriously?

Why Is Sean Hannity So Mad You're Having Sex? 5 Ways Conservatives Attack Sexual Freedom

Posted on: Aug 14, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Conservatives' attacks on sexuality have grown more radical, in the past year alone.

How Sex Panic Almost Destroyed the Economy

Posted on: Aug 1, 2011, Source: RH Reality Check

It's sex panic that helped create the modern right-wing populist, and it's the modern right-wing populist that created the current crisis.

10 Things I'd Say to the Anti-Choice Fanatics Trying to End Access to Abortion

Posted on: Jul 27, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Here are ten realities pro-choicers should throw in the face of opponents of choice they have the misfortune to get into arguments with.

Why Are Americans Still Giant Hypocrites About Sex?

Posted on: Jul 19, 2011, Source: AlterNet

So many Americans object to other people doing it that opposition to sex drives American politics.

Latest Sex Hysteria: Everyone Worried Young People No Longer Having Sex (Don't Worry, They Are)

Posted on: Jul 13, 2011, Source: AlterNet

No matter how young people are doing it, they’re doing it wrong, according to the mainstream media.

How Atheism Can Make the World Better By Tearing Down Religious Irrationality

Posted on: Jul 3, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Atheism is not just about disproving religious belief; it's also a burgeoning social justice movement intent on tearing down the social structures that perpetuate injustice.

9 States Where Awful GOP Policies Will Actually Drive Up the Abortion Rate

Posted on: Jun 23, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Republicans, who claim to find fetal life precious and abortion horrendous, also favor the very policies that drive increasing numbers of women to seek abortions.

10 States Where Abortion Is Virtually Illegal for Some Women

Posted on: Jun 12, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Thanks to increasingly restrictive state laws, we're seeing a return to pre-Roe back-alley abortions and criminal treatment of women.

The Worst Thing About Weinergate? The Total Obliteration of Sexual Privacy by Ideologues Like Andrew Breitbart

Posted on: Jun 7, 2011, Source: AlterNet

This scandal may represent the end of the presumption of sexual privacy for anyone people like Andrew Breitbart deem interesting enough to harass.

What's Really Behind "Weinergate"? A Right-Wing Attempt to Smear "Loose" Women

Posted on: Jun 1, 2011, Source: Comment Is Free

The uproar over the improper photo sent from Rep. Weiner's Twitter account fits a larger pattern of rightwing culture warriors ganging up and sexually harassing young women.

When Will Republicans Stop Saying Dumb Things About Rape? (Hint: When They Stop Hating Women)

Posted on: May 25, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Glib comments about rape by anti-choice Republican lawmakers reveal that the anti-choice movement is deeply rooted in antagonism to women's rights.

Men's Health Cover Flashing GOP Congressman's Tight Abs Reveals How Conservatives Worship a Cartoonish Hyper-Masculinity

Posted on: May 13, 2011, Source: The Guardian

Republicans fear that if they aren't constantly shoring up masculinity and attacking the feminine, they might grow soft. This has dangerous effects.

5 Surprising Things About Sex Women Might Be Scared to Tell Men

Posted on: May 12, 2011, Source: The Good Men Project

Many ballsy women are afraid to say 'Please do this' or 'Don’t do that' in bed. Here’s what some women are really thinking.

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