In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set.

On Monday night, Donald Trump’s wife Melania touched hearts as she addressed the Republican National Convention, sharing the lessons she learned growing up as a black girl on the South Side of Chicago. As first spotted by journalist Jarrett Hill, Melania’s speech bore more than a passing resemblance to another speech at another convention about eight years ago — Michelle Obama’s 2008 address to the Democratic National Convention. The cribbed portion discussed the values that Michelle and Melania apparently share, including working hard for what you want in life and keeping your word. Read more → I apologize for Feministe’s long, long radio silence, and I hate that this is the occasion to break it. Read more → [Content note: mentions of transphobia and child sexual abuse] While Feministe has been down, an issue erupted in North Carolina about where trans people are allowed to pee. Here are some highlights, if somehow you missed it while you were missing us. Read more → Calm down. Read more →

GodlessGirl.com | atheism, faith, culture, theology, & religion Womanist Musings I Blame The Patriarchy moleskinerie YoungFemaleScientist Shakesville The Abortioneers Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture FemaleScienceProfessor Our Bodies Our Blog Sex and the Ivy Greta Christina's Blog This piece was originally published on AlterNet. In a society that reflexively copes with death by using religion, grieving atheists are turning to each other. How do you deal with death -- your own, or that of people you love -- when you don't believe in God or an afterlife? Especially when our culture so commonly handles grief with religion... in ways that are so deeply ingrained, people often aren't aware of it? A new online faith-free grief support group, Grief Beyond Belief, is grappling with that very question. Grief Beyond Belief was launched by Rebecca Hensler after the death of her three-month-old son. So about a year later, she started a Facebook page, Grief Beyond Belief. So why do atheists need this? Salt in the Wound For some grieving non-believers, the comforts offered by religious believers are neutral, and can even be positive. But for many non-believers, these comforts are actively upsetting. But these beliefs aren't universally shared. When The Trump Card Fails