Erica Westly tells the story of the National Soccer Alliance, the first professional women's soccer league, and the decades of unequal treatment leading up to the current pay dispute between members of the USWNT and the US Soccer Federation.
First, have a modeling career. During your candidacy and after you take office, the press will thoroughly cover your physical appearance. They might compare your body to all sorts of fruits. This kind of scrutiny may distract the public from your main purpose of making political change. To get used to hearing all the negative comments about your figure, spend anywhere from three to twenty years of your life working as a professional model. Your looks…
“Most girls aren't into this kind of stuff.” No way, do you have the list? The list of things most girls are into? I've been trying to find that thing forever, can you forward it to me? You have my email. Thanks, man, you're the best.
If she is attractive; tell your readers exactly how attractive, within the first paragraph. Speculate on whether she is attracted to you. If she has become successful and not moved to a Western country; ask why, speculate on if she realizes how attractive she is: could this be the reason why she hasn't moved? If she writes about a non-Western country; see if you can find a dead white guy to quote. It…
Elena's previous work for The Toast can be found here.
To count how many emails from professors I got during my years in undergrad, I would have to go back to my old email and do some fairly sophisticated filtering. I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'll just estimate that about three times per quarter - over the course of nine or so quarters taking primarily computer science classes - I
I think sometimes of all the bad things that could happen to me. Does anybody else do this? All the ways I could be hurt, the exact level and amount I could suffer, and survive.
It started, I think, in elementary school, while watching West Side Story with my parents. That scene where the Jets taunt Anita. Her shirt is fuchsia and her hair is short and her
I have gone back and forth several times over the last few days on whether or not it would be worth addressing Adam Plunkett's New Yorker.com review of poet Patricia Lockwood's latest book here. I don't write much on topical issues to begin with, there have been plenty of more noteworthy stories about women's issues in the public eye over the last week or so, and it's not exactly hurting her career any. Also,…
I’m starting to believe that my boyfriend’s father is the New England mascot for the worst of white male privilege. Naturally, such privilege is bedazzled with the nicotine-flavored, boisterous rumblings of unflinching homophobia and an admiration of Reagan-era conservatism. It’s a badge of paternal lordship, sharpened by the nervous-titters of his obedient family members, people who adhere to specific stage blocking not like trained actors, but well-worn chess pieces. My boyfriend’s father knows that I…
When Sarah Rees Brennan asked me to write a companion essay to her piece on the many issues women face in self-promotion, I had just returned from a trip to Austin, Texas, where I was promoting my most recent novel, Inheritance, at the Austin Teen Book Festival. I was about to leave for Wordstock, a book festival in Portland, Oregon, to continue this promotion. I began writing this essay in my friend’s house…
I am going to say "bitch" a lot. I do not like or use the word much, but I'm going to be talking a lot about reaction to female creators, and this is the only way I know how to discuss the experience of getting that word over and over again, until it is expected, until the chorus becomes a dull roar. It's a word that shows up every day in my inbox and in…
Was sir in a state of awareness that bestselling novelist Danielle Steel periodically takes to her blog to air her pet peeves? She does. Her latest , written this past Monday, is when men ask her "Are you still writing?" From Daniellesteel.net (Ed. note - ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL .NET) The comment is an immediate put down. It is a way of suggesting that what I do is really not very important. Women NEVER ask me…
The Mitfords According to Nicole 1. Jessica: "You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty." 2. Nancy: “If I had a girl I should say to her, 'Marry for love if you can, it won't last, but it is a very interesting experience and makes a good beginning in life. Later on, when you marry for money, for heaven's sake let it be big money. There…
