FROM THE ARCHIVE: FUNNY WOMEN: Feminist Valentine’s Day Gifts
Stretch. Listen in hundreds of different positions. Listen a little to the left; now a little to the right.
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Posts by: Elissa Bassist
Fierce Womxn Writing
FIERCE WOMXN WRITING is designed to help writers “level up” their writing.
...moreThe Belladonna: Funny Writing by Women, for Everyone
Looking for the hot new place to submit and read humor writing? The Belladonna is the latest online venue for comedy and self-care, courtesy of writers and editors Caitlin Kunkel, Brooke Preston, Fiona Taylor, Carrie Wittmer, and Daniel Tosh. The Belladonna is a safe space for you to “channel your fear, frustration, anger, and disappointment into a target.” More details on how to […]
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Funny Women #152: Features of the Groundbreaking American Writers Museum
We’ll be open as long as the National Endowment for the Arts is.
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Where We Go from Here
Warrior up! Begin with small actions, like donating or volunteering, if you’re able.
...moreCall for Submissions: Emrys Journal
“Funny Women” submissions don’t read themselves. Most of the time Assistant Regional Funny Woman Katie Burgess reads them (she wrote the infinitely funny “How to Read a Poem,” anthologized in Oxford University Press’s Humor: A Reader for Writers, and has since gone on to read slush). Katie, now Editor-in Chief of Emrys Journal, wants women and gender nonconforming writers to […]
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FUNNY WOMEN #143: Feminism, the Quiz
How often do you dissemble power structures with equal-opportunity daredevildom?
...moreTragedy in Spades: a Crime Documentary (the Play)
Probably internationally acclaimed playwright Liza Birkenmeier, dubbed “the next big thing” by someone somewhere, who wrote national bestseller “Funny Women #136: Recommendation Letter” is also here to help you with your weekend plans. The cultural moment we are in is obsessed with true crime . . . and with truth, and with crime. Through April 9th in […]
...moreIntroducing Reductress’s Mouth Time!
“Just two girls sharing what our heads are thinking by moving our mouths.” The editors of beloved and renowned women’s site Reductress have launched a podcast aptly named Mouth Time! with hosts Quenn (Nicole Silverberg) and Div (Anna Drezen) and guest heroine Chelsea Clarke. In the inaugural mouth-off, you’ll hear about: “Get It Week” (briefly: “Celebrating girls who are getting it… how […]
...moreHello, My Name Is Doris
It’s a popular yet strenuous question: What are you doing this weekend? For once I have an easy answer. As a Showalter superfan (of filmmaker Michael Showalter and leading feminist literary critic Elaine Showalter), I’ll be front row for Hello, My Name Is Doris when it opens in NYC and LA today. The synopsis: Sally Field stars as an oddball alongside […]
...moreHumor: A Reader for Writers
Not one but two “Funny Women” pieces are included in Oxford University Press’s Humor: A Reader for Writers: Erin Somers’s “Funny Women #99: Modern Vice” and Katie Burgess’s “Funny Women #102: How to Read a Poem” (only women whose last names end with “s” were considered, so do not feel bad if you were unfavorably named). While editors Kathleen Volk Miller and Marion […]
...moreSupport Vela’s Kickstarter to Pay Writers
Vela Magazine is hoping to raise $25,000 to pay its women writers and editors. With less than a week left, they have $7,059 to pry from your gender-netural credit cards.
...more“Funny Women” Art Show
Near the bottom of every Funny Women piece is the note, “Rumpus original art by Annie Daly.” We believe in combining hilarious content with a strong aesthetic while promoting artists with ovaries. For a year, Annie’s reliably created beautiful illustrations to make women’s writing and jokes prettier. For those of you in the Bay Area or with […]
...moreBinderCon: A Symposium on Women Writers Today
Mitt Romney ignited a feminist revolution during the 2012 presidential debates when he said, “I went to a number of women’s groups and said: ‘Can you help us find folks?’ And they brought us whole binders full of women.” Throw VIDA’s pie charts highlighting “gender disparity in major literary publications and book reviews” into the mix, and you’ll […]
...moreThe Riveter / Issue 02
We love The Riveter, an online and (now) print magazine that “publishes longform by women for everyone.” A lot has changed since we first wrote about The Riveter. Co-founders and co-editors Joanna Demkiewicz and Kaylen Ralph hired a staff, published a print issue, developed a growing social media presence, and remain committed to publishing awesome weekly content, […]
...moreReductress Relaunch
Funny Women PSA: Reductress, “the first and only satirical women’s magazine,” has relaunched with a new female-friendly look and new feminized content. Ambitious co-founders Beth Newell and Sarah Pappalardo saw the need to augment the site’s objectives. “We realized that Reductress had the potential to be more than just a blog,” Pappalardo says. “That’s why we’ll […]
...moreBrave Author Writes Entire Novel As Nail Art
Courtesy of Reductress–the premier fake women’s news magazine–check out this woman novelist who has written an entire novel using nail art. The drawback: “Archery? No way.”
...moreReductress: Women’s News. Feminized.
In lieu of a “Funny Women” column today, please read all of Reductress, a new satirical women’s web magazine like The Onion that “tells the stories of real women, written by real women, for other real women who like to read about women.” At last, a news magazine that “that empower[s] women with feminine ideas, feminine […]
...moreFUNNY WOMEN #100: Writing the Next Great American Woman’s Novel
A lot of women people (as opposed to men people, or just “people”) are upset that Wikipedia editors have created a subcategory for “American Women Novelists.” But I’m not.
...moreThe Riveter: Read and Submit!
Joining PDXX Collective and Vela, there’s another new online magazine offering “riveting storytelling by women.” It’s cleverly called The Riveter. Kaylen Ralph and Joanna Demkiewicz, a.k.a. “The Rosies,” created The Riveter to celebrate “the diversity of the female experience by publishing original longform and narrative pieces by women.” As two female twentysomething journalism students, Kaylen and Joanna “needed to […]
...morePDXX Collective: Read and Submit!
There’s a new website for women writers. The PDXX Collective is a daily dosage of literary feminism, exploring how publishing more women writers can provide more social equality between the genders. Fuck yeah! Mary Breaden began this online writers’ collective with the goal of making a weekly smashup of women writers. Over the next three months, the PDXX writers will be […]
...moreBOMB’s Poetry Smackdown
As part of Lit Crawl NYC, BOMB Magazine presents: Poetry Smackdown this Saturday at 7pm at Dempsey’s Pub (61 2nd Avenue). Twelve poets will compete in a read-off to win the love of the audience and eternal glory. The first 50 people who attend will get a free chapbook of poetry by our contestants. Rumpus […]
...moreNotes from Jeanette Winterson’s Reading at McNally Jackson
Jeanette Winterson has the best-named memoir: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? She spoke about the story behind the title during her reading at McNally Jackson bookstore in NYC: When Jeanette W. was fifteen, she fell in love with another girl and couldn’t hide it. Her mother, referred to as “Mrs. Winterson,” staged an exorcism […]
...moreLink Roundup of F*ed Reproduction Regulations
The last few months have been like a post-apocalyptic dystopian young adult novel re: women’s health. First there was Nancy Pelosi’s GOP Oversight hearing photo showing five men testifying on women’s health. “What qualifies me to be an expert on women’s reproductive health? I’m a 59-year-old man.” Then Sandra Fluke testified, arguing in favor of requiring private insurance plans […]
...moreWelcome to the Girls’ Club
“We’re secretaries fully versed in Derrida, receptionists who have read Proust in French. This is a land of girls. There are always at least ten of ‘us’ for every one of ‘him.’” –Meghan Daum, “Publishing and Other Near-Death Experiences” Fuck yeah, Meghan Daum. I learned about the old boys’ club when I took women’s studies classes in […]
...moreNotes from Treasure Island!!!
Author Sara Levine read a few chapters from her novel Treasure Island!!! (a Rumpus Book Club selection) at WORD bookstore in Brooklyn and said wonderfully interesting things during the Q & A with the audience: On male plots v. female plots:
...moreFUNNY WOMEN #73: How to Write Like a Funny Woman
Recently, I started taking improv classes at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York (founded by the high priestess of funny, Amy Poehler). During each class exercise, I’d think, “This would help my writing.” I compiled a list of writing lessons I learned from Improv 101:
...moreWrite Like a Motherfucker (on Facebook)
Are you trying to write today but feeling distracted/unmotivated/lonely? If so, perfect. We’re taking “Write Like a Motherfucker,” Dear Sugar’s #48 column one step beyond…
...moreFUNNY WOMEN #61: My Imaginary Wet Hot American Summer
Even though I’m Jewish, I never went to summer camp.
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