5.) Another viral ad tries to “empower” women while selling them products to look young forever  (Quartz)
Notable quote: “No matter the amount of moving music and public displays of support, there is simply no way a beauty brand should be able to both profit from a growing huge market ($191.7 billion projected globally for anti-aging alone) that feeds off the idea that you look too dark-skinned and too old, and also play fairy godmother of female empowerment.”

4.) Right-wingers are using bathrooms to promote bigotry (Bitch Media)
Notable quote: “Republicans argue that these pro-discrimination measures are essential to public safety. But actually, they contribute to violence. It’s worth repeating that the kind of transgender bathroom assault Republicans discuss in their votes for these measures has never happened—there are zero reported cases of this happening anywhere in the United States.”

3.) The legacy of the Kobe Bryant rape case (ThinkProgress)
Notable quote: “It’s impossible to know what Bryant’s present status would be if his rape case had gone differently — if the accuser’s past had not been viciously put on trial, if the media hadn’t irresponsibly condoned rape myths, and if Bryant and his alleged victim had both gotten their day in court.”

2.) Exactly how male gamers react when they are forced to play female characters (Quartz)
Notable quote: “Playing as a female character could be a teaching moment. One Reddit user now playing as a female wrote that ‘the only thing bothering me is all the creepy rape comments I get.'”

1.) I swear this isn’t about female indie musicians (San Antonio Current)
Notable quote: “Before her passing in 2012, famed essayist, screenwriter and director Nora Ephron itemized what she would not miss when she died. The list included bras, bad dinners, email and panels on ‘Women In Film.’

Creator of HBO’s Girls and Ephron’s mentee, Lena Dunham, recently reflected on a conversation with Ephron about gender inequality in ‘Female Films.’ Ephron told Dunham, ‘We don’t want to talk about it, but it’s our job to talk about it until there’s nothing left to say.’

There lies the dichotomy at hand, folks — to discuss the additional X chromosome or not to discuss the X chromosomes?

Is the qualifier ‘female’ inherently segmenting? Is the annoying rhetoric surrounding its use justified? Is there anything left to say?”