Re-Feminist History (aka Bitchstory)

  He killed her. And after he did, he called her a “fucking bitch.” Not during a struggle. Not in fear. After. That word didn’t slip out accidentally. It arrived fully formed. Comfortable. Familiar. Practiced. Every woman I know recognized the tone instantly. Not as politics. As memory. Because we’ve heard it before. In kitchens. In cars. In breakups that turned into threats. In workplaces. In bedrooms. In courtrooms. It’s the voice men use when they decide your humanity is optional. And here’s the part that keeps circling in my head: It wouldn’t have mattered what she did. It wouldn’t have mattered if she was polite. Or calm. Or compliant. Or quiet. Or grateful. Or perfect. Because the word doesn’t describe behavior. It describes disobedience. Every woman learns this early: You can be kind and still be called a bitch. You can be careful and still be called a bitch. You can be small and still be called a bitch. You can be bleeding and ...

  Right now, on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world, hard-won rights that many of us assumed were permanent are being chipped away — piece by piece, law by law, funding cut by funding cut. This isn’t “politics as usual.” This is a rollback — not just of policies, but of bodily autonomy, economic freedom, healthcare access, and legal equality — and it’s happening at a pace and scale that should make anyone who cares about equality sit up and pay attention. 1. Reproductive Rights Under Assault Abortion and reproductive autonomy are under direct attack in multiple arenas — not just in courtrooms, but in everyday access to healthcare. In the United States, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, access to abortion care became uneven and fragile. But what many people still don’t fully grasp is how far the erosion has spread: Provisions that funded reproductive healthcare services — not just abortion, but cancer screenings, STI testing, contraception, and preven...