Jane Fonda recently admitted, as regretfully as if coming clean about defrauding an animal shelter, that even though she’s a feminist, she still wants men to be attracted to her.

“If I’m going to be on a Zoom meeting and I know that there’s going to be a man—even if I go to a doctor and it’s a guy—I mean, I feel ashamed even admitting this, but I pay a little extra attention to how I look than I do if it’s a woman,” she said in an interview with Grazia. “I became an adult in the ’50s and it’s just part of my DNA,” she offered, as a defense.

“You can look beautiful and still be a feminist,” Fonda clarified. It’s trying to look beautiful for a man that’s problematic.

I love Jane Fonda, just like I love the many friends, glossy magazines, and feminist thinkers I’ve heard express the same idea over the years: It’s okay to want to look good. It’s just not okay to want to look good for men. I want to take their beautiful faces in my hands and say: What the hell are you talking about? 

Sexual beings want to attract each other. This is not an issue of feminism. It is the behavior of a person who is a part of a society. It is literally part of our DNA. You are not a bad feminist even if you want a random Zoom doctor to think you are hot. I want Jane Fonda’s Zoom doctor to think I am hot, even though we have never met. Wanting everyone to think your hot is, regrettably, the human condition.

I share the desire to untangle personal adornment and male approval—to resist the feeling that your looks are a gallery space and you are a curator of male fantasy. There are so many reasons a woman might want to look good at any moment: for herself, or for the pathologically cruel teenage girls at her bus stop. But oh my god—let me buy two different makeup products and carefully blend them into my eyebrow hairs without having to say I’m doing it for myself! It is not a political act. It is not empowering and it is not harmful. It is the ancient tradition of humans disguising our flaws to try to seduce each other.

“You’re bad if you want to attract the people you find attractive” gorgeously illustrates the way feminism argues itself into irrelevance. It is a deeply sex-negative, conservative idea masquerading as pro-woman—as if by wanting to be desired, you waive your rights to be respected. This is shaming. It creates a feminism that has no place for sex workers—or almost anyone else. And it sets up feminism as a struggle between men and women, instead of a movement to set free people of all genders.

There’s a crucial distinction: Trying to look hot is not sexist. Beauty standards for women are sexist, and often racist. They can feel like a tax on your existence. But focusing feminism on individual women’s beauty choices is as self-defeating as focusing environmental action on plastic straws instead of corporate carbon emissions. You can wonder for years and still not know exactly why you are drawn to a certain style or skirt-length, the look of a winged eyeliner or the smoothness of a waxed leg. It’s compelling, but centering this is also a way of keeping feminism localized on our own small personal choices instead of on issues in which women have no choice: reproductive access, maternal mortality, domestic violence, the gender pay gap.

It’s happening. On December 1, 2021, the Supreme Court will hear a case that legal experts say will directly challenge Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that found that access to abortion is a constitutional right. 

For years, state governments have been chipping away at that precedent, passing legislation that makes access to abortion tricky in many states and nearly impossible in others. On September 1, the most restrictive abortion law in the country went into effect in Texas, banning abortions six weeks after conception, with no exceptions in the case of rape or incest. At six weeks most people have no idea that they are pregnant. 

Abortion law experts said at the time the move essentially made Roe v. Wade a fiction in Texas and could lead to it being challenged in the Supreme Court. Only weeks later that prediction is already coming true—on September 20, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear arguments over a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks. 

One in four women will have an abortion in her lifetime, according to Planned Parenthood. Before Roe v. Wade, when abortion was illegal, one in six pregnancy-related deaths were caused by unsafe, unregulated abortions. Meanwhile, legal abortions in the U.S. have an over 99% safety record. 

The case the court will hear is Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Jackson Women’s Health, SCOTUSblog reported in May, is the only licensed abortion provider in Mississippi. The organization will be represented in the Supreme Court case by the Center for Reproductive Rights, which just last year successfully argued a Supreme Court case protecting abortion rights in Louisiana. 

That case was 5-4 in favor of reversing an anti-abortion access law. Since then, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and was replaced by the anti-choice justice Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett was the third justice confirmed to the Supreme Court during Donald Trump’s presidency. (For comparison, in Obama’s eight years in office, he confirmed only two justices to the court.) The majority of conservative-leaning justices on the court strongly suggests that the court will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

We know that women of color, poor women, and women with children suffer the most from abortion restrictions. “Think about someone who’s 12 or 13 years old trying to navigate accessing abortion and having to travel hundreds of miles and access that care,” Texas Planned Parenthood doctor Bhavik Kumar told Glamour in early September. 

The best way to keep abortion accessible despite challenges in the Supreme Court is to pass laws protecting abortion rights, Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, told Glamour in May. “One of the most important things is to make sure we have protection at the federal level,” she said. “We’re going to need to have nationwide protections should the Supreme Court weaken those protections at all. We want to make sure that the EACH Act and the Women’s Health Protection Act are there as strong federal safeguards.”

“We will not stand by and allow our nation to go back to the days of back-alley abortions,” the vice president said in a statement about the Texas abortion ban. “We will use every lever of our administration to defend the right to safe and legal abortion—and to strengthen that right.” Women—and all Americans—need the Biden administration to follow through on that promise now more than ever. 

Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter. 

There’s no shortage of women who watch porn, but for the longest time, it felt impossible to find porn for women. These days there is (praise be) a ton of feminist porn out there, but it can sometimes take a bit of legwork to find. On a lot of free sites, it often feels like you have to wade through video after video (and pop-up after pop-up) of people degrading, insulting, and violating women before you can find something arousing and empowering. 

Finding hot masturbation material (or fodder for favorite foreplay tips) should not come at the cost of feeling like an object (unless that is specifically what you’re looking for, a valid turn-on which can still be experienced in a feminist way).

Much of the best porn for women isn’t free, but keep in mind that a lot of free porn isn’t produced ethically. Paying for feminist porn is not only going to be safer for your computer, but it makes the entire industry more female-friendly—for the performers and the viewers.

Here are some feminist porn sites to check out if you’re looking for female empowerment, mutually respectful sex, and lots of content to help get you off.

Cindy Gallop created this site to show real sex among real people—not actors doing things that don’t represent how sex happens IRL. Couples submit videos of themselves having sex—”real world sex in all it’s glorious, silly, beautiful, messy, reassuring humanness—which you can rent for $5, and half of the money will go to the stars themselves. “We are not porn—porn is performance (often an exceedingly delicious performance, but a performance nonetheless),” its website reads. “We are not ‘amateur’—a label that implies that the only people doing it right are the professionals and the rest of us are bumbling idiots. (Honey, please.)” We love that attitude. And these vids.

This award-winning queer porn site provides “real dyke porn, lesbians, femme on femme, boi, stud, genderqueer and trans-masculine performers, transwomen, transmen, queer men and women engaging in authentic queer sexuality.” You can become a member (which lets you stream all the videos) for $9.99 to $25 a month.

Erika Lust, a filmmaker who explained why porn can be feminist in this great TED Talk, gives us porn videos—made largely by female directors—that show all of the passion, “intimacy, love, and lust in sex,” where “the feminine viewpoint is vital, the aesthetic is a pleasure to all of the senses, and eroticism and innovation are celebrated.” She also accepts viewer “confessions,” which she turns into videos for her XConfessions series. You can watch Lust’s work for $16.66 to $34.95 a month.

Instead of your standard video format, this site features GIFs for quick, free consumption of “palpable desire, unbridled passion, and body-positive eroticism.” It also offers sex-toy reviews, a NSFW coloring book, and other resources from sex educator Elle Chase.

The “female-friendly” sections of mainstream porn sites are often just proof of how low our standards are. Anything where a woman feels a modicum of genuine pleasure tends to get categorized this way, even when the images overall are clearly geared toward straight men. But Dane Jones’ videos are some of the best options you’ll find under this category. They’re sensual, romantic, and focused on the women involved (though they tend to have shots that linger on men’s bodies as well). You can become a member for around $20 to $30 a month, but many videos are free.

The women-run Indie Porn Revolution—formerly known as nofauxxx.com—is committed to involving a diverse array of actors, showing safe sex (a rarity in porn), and casting frequently typecast people in nonstereotypical roles. Membership is $16.67 to $20 a month.

“Ms. Naughty,” the filmmaker behind this production company, calls it “a deliberate attempt to show all the good stuff that we love about sex—intimacy, laughter, connection, and real pleasure.” The videos feature the silly, awkward side of sex as well as the hot and steamy side. The camera zooms in on men just as much as it does on women, and the scenes focus on the buildup of sexual tension couples experience before sex, so you can feel the heat rising. To see beyond the previews, you have to pay $28.22 for the first month and then $12.24 a month after that.

Listen to enough fake porn moans and you can start to wonder what real people actually sound like when they’re masturbating or having sex. Fortunately, this site clears all that up. For no cost at all, you can listen to dozens of audio recordings of masturbation sessions. Some include dirty talk aimed at pleasing the listener, and others include entertaining attempts to count backward from 100 to 0.

The feminist sex-toy store Good Vibrations makes an effort to cater to women’s diverse desires, and its video collection is no exception. You can search specifically for feminist porn, women-directed films, and even sex-ed guides—something very needed in a world where way too many people learn everything they know from some pretty unrealistic porn. You can pay per minute or rent each video for $5 to $10.

At Bellesa, women can easily access sexual content that is true to how they see themselves—as subjects of pleasure, not objects of conquest. It’s not just about the porn, though. They’re a platform that is aimed at helping women fulfill their desires, share intimate and erotic stories, and even engage in a community with other like-minded women looking to freely express their sexuality on the Internet. If you want to try your hand at erotica stories, you can submit your content here, or you can simply browse through their women-friendly porn, whether you’re looking for something sensual, passionate, or, dare we say, even a little rough.

This female-founded app is that is aimed at creating elevated feminist audio—think Audible for erotica—that allows you to find a sexy story for whatever situation you’re in. You can search for audio porn to listen to alone in bed for a solo session; stories perfect to listen to before a date to get you into a flirty headspace; even erotic stories appropriate for listening to on your commute home to help you switch off from a day at the office. Dipsea’s stories feature a broad range of preferences, perspectives, and interests, and they’re fun, safe, and full of enthusiastic content that prioritizes female pleasure. You can subscribe for $47.99 per year, which is less than $4 a month.

Sexuality is a spectrum, and the best porn should reflect that. SPIT’s queer porn collection nails it on two levels, showcasing different types of content—videos, photos, and erotica—which showcase a variety of experiences. Its content is developed ethically, and the company is dedicated to creating consensual, equitable, and intersectional feminist spaces in the sex industry. That’s definitely a great reason to join for $19.65 per month.

Reddit isn’t always the friendliest place for women, but on the r/chickfixxx subreddit you can find women posting their favorite female-friendly X-rated videos. You can even make requests—if your tastes are more specific or you’re looking for a particular kind of video, it may just be easier to ask your fellow sexperts here instead of browsing for hours. You are most definitely welcome.

For porn on the artistic side (yes, it’s a thing and it’s great), check out the photography and short films on A Four Chambered Heart. Unsurprisingly, some of the stills are pretty enough to hang up on your walls—if you’re not too busy getting off to them, that is.

Images and audio are great, but sometimes there’s nothing better than reading some good old-fashioned erotica. Literotica isn’t your grandma’s scandalous paperback, however. The free resource provides some of the hottest erotic fiction and fantasy on the Internet from a variety of authors and points of view. Its standards for stories are high, so you can be sure that the stories featured here are, ahem, quite useful.

The tech industry may be notoriously male-dominated, but an increasing number of sex-toy companies are led by women. At the same time, the way we define, think about, and have sex is constantly evolving—and women are at the forefront of this evolution. It makes sense: Who better understands what works for women than us?

Beyond selling sex toys—even if they are super-fun ones—these female-run sex-toy companies share a loftier goal: to facilitate honest conversations and maybe even change the way we think about female pleasure and sexual health. Here we’re spotlighting a few of our favorites.

Dame Products‘s focus is on couples toys that even out the playing field between male and female pleasure. (Currently, it’s an uneven one: Research shows straight women have the fewest orgasms, while straight men have the most.) Dame started with just two toys, and they’ve since made history. Eva, a hands-free couples vibrator, raised more money through Indiegogo than any other toy on the platform, and Fin, a finger vibrator, was the first sex toy ever to crowdfund on Kickstarter. (The site actually changed its rules to allow that to happen.) 

Though they come in wildly different shapes (and cute colors), all of Dame’s toys share a common goal: empowering people to get what they want in bed. “I want to make sex more pleasurable for all, but particularly for those individuals with vulvas,” says CEO Alexandra Fine. “I want to make quality, reliable tools that help vulva owners achieve more pleasure—an act that I’m 100% positive will increase pleasure for all, decrease stress, and make the world a happier place.”

Maude‘s mission is to “make sex better for all people.” Frequently referred to as the Everlane of vibrators (which is appropriate, considering one of the founders was an early Everlane employee), Maude is often praised for its super-minimalist aesthetic. The design and overall vibe of Maude definitely doesn’t scream sex toys. Its vibrators and personal lubricants look more like they belong inside a spa—calm, simple, and aesthetically pleasing.

That’s intentional. Founder Eva Goicochea wanted to create a more inclusive line of sex products that felt less outdated and gendered. You won’t find hot-pink rabbit-shaped vibrators at Maude—rather, everything is designed to fly under the radar if you want to leave it out on your nightstand. From essentials to a quickie set, Maude has it all. Best part? Everything actually works (really well) and orders over $20 ship for free.

Women-run start-ups aren’t just getting us to talk about sex more—they’re aiming to change how we talk about it. In that spirit, MysteryVibe cofounder and chief pleasure officer Stephanie Alys created Crescendo, a vibrator that adapts to each user’s vagina by bending and twisting. Its versatility is meant to eliminate taboos about who uses sex toys and how.

“We felt for too long that pleasure had been segmented and categorized: separate toys for men, for women, for couples, G-spot toys, clitoral toys…the list goes on,” says Alys. “We wanted to make something that better represented the huge diversity of human bodies and the ways that we experience pleasure.”

Lioness cofounder and CEO Liz Klinger has a different way of facilitating discussions around sexual health and pleasure: She wants to track them. Her company’s smart vibrator collects data about users’ vaginal temperature and movements through an app, which keeps them informed about how their body works and what techniques work best for them personally. Think of it as an Apple watch for your vagina.

The best podcasts for women, from (mostly) women feel like a combination of a spa day, a college course, and a religious service. They’re a new way of getting your daily dose of feminist ideas—challenging your assumptions, exposing you to new voices, feeding your soul. 

American women in the 1960s nourished their emerging feminism by going to consciousness raising groups—meetings where they could overcome the isolation of being housewives and see that the problems of life under the patriarchy were shared. They multiplied their power by exchanging ideas, realizing that being alone and angry can be devastating, but being angry as a group can be catalyzing. The intimacy of women simply taking turns talking and listening helped create what eventually became a giant bullhorn, demanding equality. 

Today, perhaps, the closest analog to classic consciousness raising groups is feminist podcasts. Great podcasts mirror consciousness raising groups’ relatively low barrier to entry, a homegrown feel, and a quiet feeling of collectivity. You might hear news analysis, a book recommendation, a makeup review, and a call to political action in a single episode.  

It’s Women’s History Month, and thanks to the pandemic it’s not really possible to connect with another mom in the carpool line, or tentatively approach a beloved author at a reading, or have a heart-to-heart in the women’s bathroom, or join an in-person meeting of your local woman-led activist group. But with these, our favorite feminist podcasts right now, you can have a woman whispering in your ear all the time. Feminist podcasts offer a quiet place for women and allies to gather and speak, exchange ideas, build a vast network of relationships. Lend your ear to these podcasts, and you’ll find yourself in some great conversations with spectacular women. 

Encyclopedia Womannica

If your idea of “Powerful Women from History” stops after RBG and Beyonce, subscribe to Encyclopedia Womannica. It’s a mini-biography of a fascinating woman every day, at around seven minutes each. You could have three new feminist heroes in the time it takes to go on a coffee run. 

Our Body Politic 

Journalist Farai Chideya interviews a hispanic businesswoman about why she’s a Republican, talks to a woman epidemiologist about why the COVID vaccine rollout got off to such a slow start, asks listeners how their lives have changed during the pandemic, reviews new movies, analyzes comments from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Representative Marjorie Taylor Green, and more. And that’s one episode. Our Body Politic covers issues affecting US women of color, from the perspective of US women of color, in a super smart way. It manages to be both a political and cultural cheat-sheet, and extremely listenable. 

Lolita Podcast 

When you learn that Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita—which is considered a masterwork of literature and has inspired nearly 70 years of fascination—is made up of description after description of child rape, life feels somewhat unlivable. Host Jamie Loftus unpacks the novel and its profound legacy with such nuance and care, it’s a small miracle. Don’t even consider attempting Lolita without Loftus in your pocket. 

The PHG Podcast 

The Professional Home Girl starts every one of her podcasts by confidently telling her listeners to please leave a review and make it five stars, and it just gets better and better from there. Eboné, the homegirl in question, “aims to show the full range of women of color living full lives that they have worked to have.” She does this brilliantly and simply, by conducting an interviews with an anonymous woman of color in each episode—a Rikers Island corrections officer, or a woman who survived a plane crash that killed 100 other passengers. Common themes are sex workers, scientists, and survivors of all different varieties, and the PHG treats them all with equal respect and fascination. You think this girl won’t interview her own therapist on her podcast? Think again. 

What I Wore When

Of course we have to hype our brilliant podcast, What I Wore When, hosted by Glamour’s own Perrie Samotin. She interviews every celeb you love about the outfit they wore on a life-changing day—what Natasha Bedingfield wore when she wrote “Unwritten.” What Zoey Deutch wore to her Bat Mitzvah. What Jameela Jamil wore to her first day of work on The Good Place. Come for the outfit descriptions, stay for the gossip and bonding. 

Side Hustle Pro 

Can you transform your candle business or tutoring company or nail art obsession into an actual source of income? Sure, entrepreneurs talk about doing that all the time, throwing around buzzwords and success stories, but how can you learn how they actually did it? Side Hustle Pro host Nicaila Matthews Okome breaks down, episode by episode, how  Black women entrepreneurs turned their side hustles into their business. It’s chatty, friendly, and motivating. 

POOG

There are many great comedy podcasts and many great beauty podcasts. POOG (it’s Gwyneth’s brand, backwards) hosted by comedians Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak on another level—it will have you gently, gorgeously weeping with laughter and writing down quotes on your notes app like Novak’s observation: “We’re trapped, via our eyes and our senses, on the outside of this container! If our body is a house it’s like we’re on the upper level looking out a window and we can’t turn around and look inside the house. We are staring. Out. Of. The. House.” You’ll find yourself nodding along as Berlant talks about shoplifting Manuka honey from Whole Foods, and how she and her mother used to share a gynecologist. By the time Novak starts crying on air, trying to explain the sublime pain of eating a melting ice cream cone, POOG feels less like a zany brunch and more like a religion. Please join me in taking up orders. 

Stuff Mom Never Told You 

Let’s just get this out of the way—your dad never told you this stuff either, and it’s his fault too. Now! This podcast is a research-based investigation of womanhood, in the most lovely, chatty, way possible. Cohosts Samantha McVey and Anney Reese break down everything from the best friend trope in romcoms to the history of the word pussy to the science behind why more women than men suffer from migraines. 

Friends Like Us 

You can’t be alone when you have friends like Marina Franklin, who has the most relaxing voice of any comedian. Each week, Franklin sits down with a little group, dominated by women of color, for a combination of heart-to-heart and political debate. Imagine The View, but more functional. 

She’s All Fat 

You need a fat culture sommelier. You need guidance on how to master the queer cottagecore aesthetic while your weight fluctuates. You need a fat sex therapist; you need a deep dive on fat camps; you need an analysis on the stock character of “the fat friend.” Your sisters at She’s All Fat deliver all of this, season after season, with “chill vibes only,” plus full episodes on topics including, “Body Positive ICON Miss Piggy.” 

Hey, girl 

Remember when we used to stream podcasts on stressful commutes? Level up by listening to Hey, Girl during a slow walk, or during restorative stretching, or while staring off into space. Host Alex Elle sits down one-on-one with creative women for thoughtful, intimate conversations that pull back the hectic, consumerist layer that pushes down on us most days. Grab your notebook and pen, Elle sometimes suggests. Learning can be relaxing.  

Unfuck Your Brain 

Every woman you love deserves a full-time support staff of professionals to help her overcome her fears, manage her schedule, and achieve her full potential. But if for some reason she can’t afford to hire help, the next best thing is Unfuck Your Brain, with lawyer-turned-life-coach Kara Loewentheil. “I teach you to understand not just what evolution has done to the human brain, what your family experiences might have done to your brain, but also what living under a patriarchy does to your brain,” she promises. She doesn’t believe in “woo-talk or vibes,” just concrete advice and doable exercises to grow confidence and happiness in a world that still wants women to be submissive and grateful.  

Why Won’t You Date Me? 

Comedian Nicole Byer is gorgeous, hysterical, and extremely explicit about the many sexual acts she would do if she had an equally enthusiastic partner, so why won’t people date her? Each week, Byer and a celeb guest (and occasionally someone she dated) try to get to the bottom of this issue. They go through her dating apps, dissect her DMs, and tell stories from their own dating lives. You may pick up dating advice, insider comedy knowledge, and pole-dancing tips from this podcast. 

Black Girl In Om 

This is a truly tranquil, beautiful space for meditative conversations with fascinating women of color “on their unique journey towards wholeness.” Baths and candles are all well and good when it comes to self-care, but access to teachers and caring communities is vital, too, and Black Girl In Om is blissfully accessible. The podcast is a platform that centers the wellness needs of women of color with a combination of spirituality and down-to-earth lifestyle tips.   

Gloss Angeles

Two former beauty editors, Kirbie Johnson (who worked at PopSugar) and Sara Tan (who was with Bustle) break down the latest in trends and products, in a podcast that has earned the stamp of approval from Glamour’s own Senior Beauty Editor, Lindsay Schallon. 

Just Women’s Sports 

World Cup champion Kelley O’Hara welcomes us into real, deep conversations with the greatest women in sports, in this thrilling podcast. O’Hara asks guests to share “the untold stories behind their success,” and she scores again and again—Allyson Felix, Nastia Lukin, Chloe Kim, Candace Parker, and more athletic giants share how they did it all, in endlessly fascinating episodes. 

Home Cooking

Home Cooking will put a smile on your face and a dozen new items on your grocery list. Extremely charming hosts Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway will have you salivating whether you’re an experienced cook or just an enthusiastic snacker. 

Maintenance Phase 

The genius writer Aubrey Gordon (she’s behind Your Fat Friend) and Michael Hobbes of the podcast You’re Wrong About team up like a superhero pair to debunk lies and bad science behind popular diets and weight loss nonsense. It’s laugh out loud, and more informative than anything your diet-obsessed mom taught you. Let it radicalize you—or at least let it help you enjoy full-fat ice cream. 

The Motherhood Sessions 

Most things people know about being a mom before they actually become one come from movies and random celebrity soundbites. Until the gory truth is taught in schools like it should be, tune in to reproductive psychiatrist Dr. Alexandra Sacks on The Motherhood Sessions. She’ll make you feel more informed, and much, much less alone. 

Going Through It 

On Going Through It, Tracy Clayton sits down for emotional, bracing conversations with fascinating women about a time in their lives when they had to decide whether to quit what they were doing or make themselves keep going. It’s a who’s-who of cool women of our time, talking about their most vulnerable moments. In 2020, Clayton focused on Black women, creating 14 gorgeously inspiring conversations.  

Bitch Sesh 

Bitch Sesh, a podcast about the Real Housewives and more from comedic actors Casey Wilson and Danielle Schneider, will elevate your Bravo fandom from guilty pleasure to cultural pursuit. Until you and your girls can drink white wine and watch the Houswives on a couch together, Bitch Sesh is your best friend. 

Naked Beauty 

Brooke Devard’s powerful podcast is an an unusually honest conversation about how beauty and wellness fit into life as a woman, particularly a woman of color. It’s a dance party, a panel, and a wine night, all in one. Conversations range from motherhood to drinkable collagen to the politics of self-care. 

The Science of Beauty 

From our friends at Allure, this is the definitive look at what works and why in the world of skincare, makeup, and beauty trends. They dive into lasers, hyperpigmentation, scalp health, and more with actual dermatologists, and chemists, to tell you what’s worth the money, and what’s just a scam. 

Lady Don’t Take No 

The only thing better than a beauty podcast is a beauty podcast that’s also a justice podcast. Alicia Garza, one of the three founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, makes racial justice work and community organizing feel accessible and exciting even to newbies, with her pod that also regularly touches on the importance of Fenty Beauty. 

Terrible, Thanks For Asking 

Host Nora McInerny describes Terrible, Thanks For Asking as “A personal crusade against toxic positivity.” Her show, which is actually completely endearing and warm, disputes the “idea that we have to be positive, that the only vibes allowed are good vibes, when sometimes the vibes are actually quite bad!” Never has this been more relevant. McInerny asks real people—and the occasional celeb, hello Rebecca Black—how they’re actually doing. And time and again, magic happens. 

Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter. 

The urgency of spreading good information seems to be the engine that powers Wikipedia women through years of harassment, eye strain, and correcting grammar on articles about a Kentucky town that has only ever had dogs for mayors. I described this feeling to Koerner as a kind of high, but she set me straight. “We don’t get any sort of high out of contributing,” she says. “We’re dedicated to providing access to a human right—knowledge.”

“The need for a scientifically literate population is at the highest it’s ever been,” adds Wade. “We need people to understand about aerosol transmission. We need them to look at a graph and be able to interpret really big numbers. We need them to think about masks.”

Ironically, for all the hand-wringing in its early years, Wikipedia excels at proliferating straightforward facts. The site simply doesn’t tolerate misinformation, wiping it clean by the second, unlike its similarly popular internet peers, like Facebook and YouTube. Where did the World Health Organization turn to get COVID information out quickly and cleanly? They collaborated with Wikipedia. Good thing, too. Wikipedia dominates the Google search algorithm, is popular on both sides of the partisan divide, is regularly used by doctors, and has been embraced even in high-minded libraries like at MIT. 

“The reality is, Wikipedia is one of the first resources patrons come across in their independent research journey,” says Diamond Newman, a librarian in Washington, D.C. “Sometimes I use Wikipedia in my work as a research building block. But, as with any resource, I consume, share, and reference it critically. And I commit to researching beyond the page.” Every Wikipedian I spoke to pointed out the same thing—Wikipedia, like all encyclopedias, shouldn’t be treated as a source itself. “If you’re going to get on our butts about reliability and good sourcing, then you should know you should never cite an encyclopedia,” says Temple-Wood, making a fart noise.

The women behind Wikipedia believe it will continue to be a force for good, despite all they have weathered as its custodians. Maher sees Wikipedia as tasked with “ensuring that the general public has access to a baseline of context and information to be able to interpret the day’s events.” Right now, Americans have a general skepticism, not just of the media but of any kind of authority, she points out. Wikipedia, for all of the pedantry and nerd-outs that go on during late night edit-a-thons, isn’t pretentious. “It’s very open about the fact that it’s a best understanding of the world as we know it, and we make mistakes,” she says.

Before Wikipedia, encyclopedias like Encarta and Britannica were so bulky and expensive that only libraries and the wealthy could own them and keep them updated. Breaking news and analysis is often hidden behind paywalls, and scholarly journals that publish research breakthroughs require paid subscriptions, even though in America, tax dollars fund that research. Wikipedia—readable, constantly updated, and shockingly accurate—is accessible.

“Money doesn’t determine who knows what,” says Tei of Wikipedia. “If knowledge is really that important—if for lack of knowledge we perish—I don’t think ignorance should be determined by whether or not you have money.” Unlike the other sites that join Wikipedia as the most trafficked in the world—Google, Facebook, and Amazon among them—Wikipedia does not use ads, collect user data, or incur subscription fees. It leaves millions of dollars on the table for the pleasure of being beholden to internet-dwelling science nerds instead of corporate greed.

But there are rich personal rewards to finding intimacy between the lines of Wikipedia’s vast library. Temple-Wood survived on Wikipedia, from her tween days, to her Fuck You Project, and beyond. At her wedding last fall, there was a whole table of Wikipedians.

According to the National Women’s Law Center, women accounted for 100% of job losses in December. 

That sounds impossible or like an exaggeration. But it’s true. So the Biden-Harris administration—aware that it has its work cut out—has decided to take some concrete action: On Tuesday, with less than 24 hours to go until the Inauguration, President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris announced the formation of the White House Gender Policy Council, aiming for what the team is calling “a government-wide focus on uplifting the rights of girls and women in the United States and around the world, restoring America as a champion for women and girls.” 

The council will be co-chaired by Jennifer Klein and Julissa Reynoso, two women with extensive experience fighting for gender equity. According to a press release that the incoming administration released, the council will “guide and coordinate government policy that impacts women and girls, across a wide range of issues such as economic security, health care, racial justice, gender-based violence, and foreign policy, working in cooperation with the other White House policy councils.” 

The pandemic had been and continues to be crushing for women, particularly for women of color. Aside from the job loss, which National Women’s Law Center President Fatima Goss Graves tells Glamour sets us “back at 1980s levels of women’s share of the workforce,” a disproportionate number of women are essential workers, women take on more care and domestic work at home, and during lockdowns, domestic violence has spiked. And long before the pandemic began,  the Trump administration was working diligently to strip away protections for women and gender minorities—limiting access to reproductive healthcare, making it harder for survivors of sexual violence on campus to seek justice, and rolling back equal pay rules. 

Far from achieving the lofty aim of gender equality, the brand new administration will have to contend with the tremendous backsliding that women and gender minorities have endured. American women lost more than five million jobs in 2020. Mothers of small children were three times more likely to have lost jobs during this time than their male counterparts, Pew Research found. “In many ways, this is predictable,” Graves says. “Many months into a pandemic where we have not solved our care crisis, and where women of color in particular were disproportionately frontline workers, disproportionate working outside the home while our care structure was imploding—something’s gotta give.” 

“The unfortunate thing for this Gender Policy Council is that it’s gonna have to walk and chew gum at the same time,” Graves says. “To bring this forward-looking agenda to fruition, but also to undo so many of the really harmful things.”

In a statement from the transition team, President-elect Biden noted that “[t]oo many women are struggling to make ends meet and support their families, and too many are lying awake at night worried about their children’s economic future. This was true before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the current global public health crisis has made these burdens infinitely heavier for women all over this country. The work of this council is going to be critical to ensuring we build our nation back better by getting closer to equality for women and to the full inclusion of women in our economy and our society.” 

“All Americans deserve a fair shot to get ahead, including women whose voices have not always been heard,” Harris added in a statement. “Our administration will pursue a comprehensive plan to open up opportunity and uphold the rights of women in our nation and around the world. I look forward to working with these deeply knowledgeable and experienced public servants to address the challenges facing women and girls, and build a nation that is more equal and just.”