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Category: Media

The Best and Worst of Abortion TV Since the 1970s

ABC Previously, on TV: the abortion-quandary plot­line, featuring an uncertain pregnant woman agonizing over her decision. For years, this was how abortion was portrayed—a right-wing fantasy, essentially, present even in shows with broadly liberal politics. But as the medium flowered in the new century, so did abortion TV. Now abortions could be just another part…

Has TV Ever Gotten Abortion Right?

Melinda Beck In 1981, eight years after Roe v. Wade legalized abortion and just a year before her breakout role as pregnant Stacy in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Jennifer Jason Leigh played another apparently knocked-up high schooler, this time in a CBS after-school special called I Think I’m Having a Baby. Leigh is Laurie,…

Rapsody’s New Album Honors the Generational Power of Black Women

Jose Gongora You know them by their first names: Oprah. Serena. Michelle. Sojourner. Influential black women who have shaped cultural moments and historical movements across generations. These icons—among others you’re sure to recognize—were the inspiration for Grammy-nominated rapper Rapsody’s latest studio album, Eve. As Mother Jones Podcast host Jamilah King describes her, Rapsody is probably your favorite…

Mattel Just Released a Rosa Parks Barbie

Barbie/Mattel Barbie’s latest incarnation is a far cry from the blond fashionista whose highest aspiration was an unlimited shopping spree. Mattel announced Monday that the latest in its lineup of Inspiring Women Barbies will be civil rights leader Rosa Parks. Parks made history when, in 1955, she refused to give her bus seat up for a…