Went to Target recently to steep ourselves in some sexism. 1) We browsed through the Halloween costume section, and I can report with confidence that it’s ripe for gender and race analysis! Holy crap, people: I mean seriously. Boys should aspire to be: warriors, freakishly-muscled superheroes, monsters, firefighters. Girls should aspire to be: sexy cowgirls, sexy [...]
I use the words “parents” and “parenting” a lot. I often describe myself as a parent rather than as a mother (though I certainly use both labels). I avoid “mothers” and “fathers,” “mothering” and “fathering” because I don’t like the implications that certain parenting roles/actions are inherently feminine or masculine, that “mothers” are somehow a [...]
from Andrew Ladd at The Good Men Project, “A Billion Wicked Assumptions” (a review of Sai Gaddam and Ogi Ogas’s A Billion Wicked Thoughts) [Internet porn searches are] a valuable source of data, say the authors, because the internet is anonymous, and when given anonymity people are more likely to go after what they really want—so [...]
is that you make yourself throw, catch, etc. with your child so as to avoid enacting men-play-sports-women-watch before his very eyes, even though you grew up thinking you were weak and delicate and sort of virtuously incompetent at athletic stuff. And then maybe it turns out that hitting a ball with a bat in your [...]
Welcome to First the Egg, a collection of practical information, links, and cultural criticism. This site is a feminist intervention in our rigidly-gendered culture of childbirth and parenting. It aims to provide a nonsexist space for people who want to learn, reflect, commiserate, or laugh about being pregnant, giving birth, and helping children grow up whole and happy.
Feel free to contact me with ideas or questions at
We don’t need feminism anymore, right?
During a decade of teaching undergraduate courses, I’ve noticed that the vocal majority of my students generally agree about feminism. It used to be pretty useful, but we don’t need it anymore. You see, sexism was real in the hazy past, and it’s real in Other, foreign, dark parts of the world. But unless you’re talking about [...]