Topic: womens-issues

Why Ladies Don’t Ride Bikes: It’s All About The Benjamins

We write a lot about how much we love biking, and why you should too. But apparently we have a lot of convincing to do, because a lot of statistics indicate that there’s a big gender gap in cycling: A new article published in Transportation Research says that nearly all the growth in U.S. cycling in the past 20 years can be attributed to males aged 25 to 64. Meanwhile, bicycling rates amongst women have remained the same. And while most assume that fashion and dangerous road conditions are what keep women off the saddle, at least some think that’s not the whole story: For many women, it’s all about the Benjamins. More »

Iron Deficiency? It Might Be Internal Bleeding, Not Your Period

When men are diagnosed with iron-deficiency anemia, the first thing doctors usually do is check for internal bleeding. When women are diagnosed with iron-deficiency anemia, they’re given an iron supplement and told to eat more broccoli. Why the discrepancy? More »

How To Stay Healthy And Safe For The Solo Journeywoman

While women usually travel for the same reasons men do, our social concerns, as well as our health and safety needs, are different. But that shouldn’t stop anyone from seeing the world (we think every woman should try traveling alone). Adapting the way you dress and how you interact with local population, and preparing yourself for differing climates and attitudes, are key ways to make your globetrotting richer and safer. When going it alone, keep these tips in mind: More »

Women On The Road: In Defense Of Traveling Alone

When I tell people where I’ll be traveling to next, the first and most common response I get is, “By yourself? Aren’t you afraid?” Women traveling on their own is a relatively new phenomenon, and in some countries, it’s still considered taboo. But, despite all those urban myths about creepy men stalking you outside your hotel room, I have never been afraid to head to a foreign country all by myself. In fact, some of the best character-building experiences I’ve had abroad have been solo, and I may or may not have had them if I was with a partner, family, or friends. In fact, if I listened to all those people who told me I should have been afraid to travel on my own, I never would have gone anywhere. More »

Proof That Women Can Age Better Than Men (Screw The Studies)

I turned 30 last month. While I may not be shouting my age from the rooftops, I feel as young and fresh-faced as I did when I turned 20. Twenty bucks says I could outrun any 18-year-old who dares to challenge me. Yet according to a new study (which, in a bit of morbid-irony, was conducted by a funeral home), most women are already drafting their bucket list when they hit the Big Three-Oh. Meanwhile, most men only begin to feel the mileage on their meter at retirement age. That’s a huge gender gap, and a blatant example of the stricter standards put upon women by our culture. But why is anyone still paying attention to that status quo? More »

Domestic Violence Debate: It’s Not Wrong for Women to Hit Men

Usually I’m fiercely against double-standards, but I have to admit: I don’t think that a woman hitting a man is the same thing as a man hitting a woman. Don’t get me wrong: I’m anti-domestic violence (physical and emotional), or any violence for that matter, but I just don’t believe that if a woman hits a man, the ramifications are the same as when the reverse happens.

Now, I’m not talking about slugging your boyfriend or husband with a brass-knuckled left hook. Or smashing him over the head with a portrait painting. Or bludgeoning him with a blunt object. Obviously these acts are wrong, violent, and possibly a felony. I don’t mean pulling a Lorena Bobbitt or a Phil Hartman’s wife or a Francine Hughes in The Burning Bed (although the latter was found not guilty by a jury of her peers). I’m not talking about drawing blood, using lethal weapons, or murder. I’m talking more about smacks and slaps to the upper-body region when a gentlemen is behaving badly: Shoulders, chest, that kind of thing. More »

Body Image In the Media: Diet Pepsi Causes Debate With Skinny Can and Sofia Vergara

Pepsi’s new Skinny Can, launched during New York Fashion Week as an appeal to the fashionable crowd, isn’t showing up in designer handbags as much as in debates over body image. They’ve brought in the big guns and hired Colombian actress Sofia Vergara to get in on the debate, but to little effect. If you’re not up on all things PepsiCo (or Sofia Vergara), here’s a play-by-play of their recent attempt to drum up consumer enthusiasm: More »

Sensitivity In Social Media: Why Was Lara Logan Assaulted Twice?

On Tuesday, CBS News announced that foreign correspondent Lara Logan was beaten and sexually assaulted while covering Egypt’s revolution. “In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers,” CBS said.

This horrific situation has unfortunately been made even uglier thanks to an outpouring of vitriol on various Web outlets. The comments section of Gawker’s post on the assault became so choked with a mélange of victim-blaming toward Logan and racism toward her attackers that the post’s author, Hamilton Nolan, was forced to move “what seemed like the most egregiously stupid threads to the ‘stupid’ page.” But Gawker’s commenters are fairly good about self-policing. As Nolan noted, “[T]he most idiotic comments seem to be followed by dozens of people calling them dumb.”

It’s easy, however, to spew vitriol anonymously in the comments section of a blog. But it takes real chutzpah to say something with your real name attached to it, as journalist Nir Rosen did shortly after news of the assault broke. Rosen, a regular contributor to high-caliber publications including The Atlantic and Harper’s, took to his Twitter account with a series of tone-deaf jokes at Logan’s expense. More »

Work In Gender-Opposite Job, Get Criticized More Often

Check out this post about gender-opposite jobs by Emerald Catron on MyDaily.

If your job as a lady fire chief seems harder than you expected (and you’ve seen “Backdraft” like 40 times), it’s not all in your mind. Research shows that people who have jobs associated with their opposite gender are often judged more harshly for their mistakes. More »

What We're Reading:

Holiday Tips for Single Women

Check out this post on being single during the holidays by Doree Lewak on Lemondrop.

There are roughly 55 million single women in the U.S. Many of them are with-it, smokin’ and smart — and many with their finger on the pulse of life. But when that certain finger is ringless, even the most self-assured single can dread the shame and rebuke of facing disappointed family during the holidays — especially when the really hostile ones who found the unlocked liquor cabinet constantly undermine you, demanding to know why you can’t scare up a date. It can be downright soul-crushing when you come home empty-handed –– literally! — no ring on that finger, watching family members’ faces crumble in disappointment that you’re back another year without any engagement bling.

Family gatherings during the holidays are always a crapshoot: They can either lift the dark cloud hanging over you because you’re sans date, or they can remind you of the reason that you come home only once a year: You don’t need your family pointing out how alone you are. More »

“On the Go Women” Helps Fight Osteoporosis

No matter what your age, are you worried that osteoporosis could get in the way of the active things you want — and need — to do in life?

Osteoporosis is a real disease with life-threatening consequences. In fact, one in four Canadian women over the age of 50 has osteoporosis. And, while this disease can strike at any age, it most commonly occurs after menopause.

But the news isn’t all bad: The good news is that you may be able to take action now to strengthen your bones. And if you’re already on an osteoporosis treatment plan, you may have other options you didn’t know about. More »

Women on Women: Gal, Chick, Toots, Babe, Lady, Goddess, Bee-Yatch – What should we women call ourselves? (via EcoSalon)

Stop Stressing: Just Quit Your Job, Get a Divorce, and Become a Man

Attention married, red-headed women of Generation X who live in Las Vegas: You have very stressful lives. In fact, if you fulfill just one of those requirements, chances are you’re more stressed out than the guy on the street next to you. Yes, your suspicions are correct — women are 8% more stressed than men. And don’t even get us started on married women. They’re 11% more stressed out than their single counterparts. And researchers say that the husband and kids are to blame. Check out the other most stress-inducing characteristics on The Daily Beast. More »

Getting Cat-Called? Use Your Phone to Fight the Pervs

Check out this post about an iPhone application that could discourage sexual harassment by Guilia Rozzi at Lemondrop.

Yesterday iHollaback announced the launch of their new smartphone apps that will track and map where and when harassment happens, in real time.

According to iHollaback: When users sign into the iPhone app, they will be given choice to Hollaback! with or without a picture, describing the type of harassment: verbal, flashing, groping, assault, or other. More »

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