Features

How Ted Bundy’s Killing Spree Launched a Legion of Feminist Karate Masters

Narratively

Before the man showed up, Py Bateman was having a regular day. She had swung by the karate dojo to let in some students and was now arriving home to freshen up. Her friend would be picking her up soon. They had plans to go to a folk festival. The man must have hid behind the low wall separating her deck from her house, because as soon as she stepped up to let herself in, he was at her neck with a knife. Her first thought: Oh shit.

 

Meet the Paranormal Moms Society

Narratively

Christie Carpenter-Chaidez and her neighbor stepped through the gates of Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, equipped with a tiny electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) recorder that they’d bought on eBay. The long-abandoned 82-plot cemetery, set on the edge of a forest in Midlothian, Illinois, is known for its paranormal happenings. Legend has it the mob used the cemetery as a dumping ground for dead bodies back in the 1920s, and spooky sightings have included pale ghostly figures sitting atop graves, phantom cars whipping down the street, and orbs of light floating through the overgrown grounds at night.

 

'I Lost Everything;' The Obscene Cost of Being a Woman with Chronic Health Problems

Vice

Lee Edwards was driving home from work one day in 2005 when a blinding migraine struck out of nowhere. After the ear-splitting pain persisted for more than a month, the then-28-year-old knew something was seriously wrong, but the first doctor she saw prescribed Vicodin and offered next to nothing in the way of an explanation, she recalled. That was just the start of a frustrating pattern that would repeat itself over the next decade of Edwards' life.

Why It's Time to Start Talking About Arousal Non-concordance

Nylon

Our genitals are natural wonders. They are self-cleaning, temperature-regulating, epicenters of pleasure. Shakespeare alluded to them with clever double entendres, Georgia O'Keeffe plastered them all over vibrant canvases, and for all of human existence, we have theorized about what exactly is going on down there. While our sexual organs have a slew of hidden talents, one they lack is the ability to accurately communicate our wants, preferences, or level of enjoyment when it comes to sex.

 

Why the Opioid Crisis is a Women's Health Issue

Vogue

Across the country, as the opioid crisis continues to worm its way into rural outposts and cities alike, fatality rates are staggering: The epidemic claims as many as 115 Americans lives daily, according to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with a newly published study recording a 30% increase in emergency visits for overdoses across all states between 2016 and 2017.

 

How Intimacy Coordinators Are Making Sex Scenes Safe for Actors

Nylon

"Whatever you are comfortable with!" the director shouts haphazardly as you start the scene. I agreed to this, you think. There is some fumbling, you don't really know where you should put your hands, and your partner's thick, cream-cheese-and-lox-bagel-breath is distracting.

"Let's try this again but with a little more aggression and intensity!" the director shouts, adding: "Try grabbing her tits!"

The Complete Guide to Hair Loss for Women

Allure

“There are many different reasons for hair loss, and hair loss may be a symptom of a greater problem," New York-based board-certified dermatologist Michelle Henry tells Allure. "If someone has thyroid problems, it's really important to pinpoint this because this derangement in their metabolism can affect their overall health. If someone has iron deficiency anemia, one of their first manifestations may be hair loss." The sooner these conditions are found, the better.

 

How 4 Next-Gen Makeup Lines Are Serving the Transgender Community

Vogue

It’s been a celebratory season in the name of Pride. Virgil Abloh used his newly minted title as menswear artistic director of Louis Vuitton to send a global message of inclusionby showcasing a diverse casting of models down a rainbow-hued catwalk in Paris. Celebrations commenced stateside and a mosaic of glitter filled streets across the U.S. in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

 

The Psychological Impact Of Anti-Abortion Legislation Is Real And Dangerous

Nylon

If you have found yourself feeling irritable, anxious, depressed, and overwhelmed at the thought of checking the news or looking up your state's proposed bills, rest assured that you are having a reasonable response given the circumstances. The rate Roe v. Wade seems to be unraveling at has a direct impact on our mental health and well-being. The systematic stripping of reproductive rights is not just a political issue, it is an assault on the safety and autonomy of any person that can become pregnant.

This Cameroon-Born Musician Is Changing the Face of Rock—One Bold Lip Color at a Time

Vogue

“I feel most beautiful with no hair, looking like every Cameroonian woman who I grew up with,” says Vagabon, née Laetitia Tamko, a rock musician whose buzz cut is customary in her native country in Central Africa. But in Harlem? Tamko adopted waist-grazing braids when she moved there as a teenager. “It took time to get back here,”

 

What Women Recovering From Eating Disorders Actually Face in the New Year

Vogue

The “New Year, New You” mantra is louder than ever, with exercising more and eating healthier at the top of resolutions lists. At best, it’s motivating—for the 20 percent of resolutioners who actually see their goals through to February. At worst? Debilitating, especially for the 30 million Americans who will at some point in their life struggle with eating disorders, a condition that affects all ages, genders, races and socioeconomic classes.

 

SATC Author Candace Bushnell Says Carrie Would Never Actually Be Friends With Charlotte

Bustle

For nearly 25 years, Sex and the City has been considered a capsule of single womanhood in the ‘90s. Looking back, there’s a lot the show got right about the shifting ideologies at the time: the casual sex culture, the focus on women’s professional ambitions, and yes, the going out tops.

Is Anyone Having Fun On And Just Like That?

Bustle

Bad dates make for great stories. Bad marriages? Not so much. Whereas the original Sex and the City followed Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) as they navigated their way through strange hookups, underwhelming dates, and tumultuous relationships without ever losing their sense of humor, HBO Max’s And Just Like That reboot finds them in much sadder territory.

 

A Very Hallmark Christmas

Bustle

For the Hallmark Channel, Christmas starts in October, when it begins rolling out its dozens of holiday movies in earnest. Each one is a variation on a theme the channel has spent nearly two decades perfecting: City girl meets small-town boy, engages in mistletoe and snow-laden antics, and lives happily ever after.

 

This Dolly Parton Christmas Movie Will Make You Believe In Angels

Bustle

In many ways, Dolly Parton is already a full-on guardian angel: a prolific, glitter-coated deity who helped bring the COVID-19 vaccine to the masses and also gave us “Jolene.” But in Unlikely Angel, the criminally underrated, made-for-TV Christmas movie, she quite literally becomes one. Twenty-five years later, the story of Dolly’s ascension holds up — and it might just be what you need this holiday season.

Slick Chicks Is Making Underwear Accessible for All Bodies

Fashionista

"People ask me all the time if it is the larger things that trip me up when it comes to having a disability," says Shannon Dawn. "It really isn't. It is the smaller things, like tying shoes, putting on underwear — little things that you wouldn't expect."

 

Maggie Rogers is Back in Her Body

Nylon

It takes seven seconds to make a first impression. This formula has been a staple of pop psychology and, although its veracity is somewhat questionable, I already like Maggie Rogers by the time she breezes into Cafe Mogador, slides into the seat across from me and fills up my water glass. We chat about halloumi eggs for a while (a go-to for her when she is back in town) and both decide to order them.

 

Why Believing in Conspiracy Theories Feels so Good, According to Psychologists

The Outline

After the shock of senseless violence settles, conspiracy theories often follow. They pop up during elections, following economic downturns, and in the midst of international conflict. Though the people who ascribe to them hail from all over the ideological spectrum, at their core, conspiracy theories are an attempt to explain the inner workings of the world around us. And psychologists are working to decipher why people believe them.

What This Spellbinding PEN15 Episode Says About Suburban Tween Witchcraft

Bustle

No show has ever captured the humiliation of middle school quite like PEN15. But while the Hulu comedy’s return still brings plenty of turmoil over unrequited lovers and unwanted body hair, PEN15 Season 2 is darker and stranger than ever, as Anna’s volatile home life and Maya’s desperate desire to be loved by a boy become major storylines. Episode 3, “Vendy Wiccany,” stands out as a surreal and slightly somber shift in the series.

 

The 'High Fidelity' Costume Designer On The Secret To Zoë Kravitz's Effortless Style

Bustle

No one is ever truly ready to run into an ex on the street. But if it's going to happen, one can only hope they look as effortlessly cool as Zoë Kravitz's Rob does in Hulu's High Fidelity.

 

Leave It To Timothée Chalamet To Make Laurie The Ultimate F*ckboy In 'Little Women'

Bustle

When I first realized that Jo and Laurie, the central will-they-won't-they couple in Louisa May Alcott's centuries-old classic Little Women, would not end up together, I wept. Every time the story has been adapted for the screen and the stage, that's been the intended reaction. Laurie is charming, utterly gorgeous, and sweet to both Jo and her sisters. All he wants to do is shower Jo with buckets of money and love. Why say no to his proposal?

The American's Guide to Love Island

Bustle

Only on Love Island can a couple get into a raucous fight, exchange declarations of love, and tearfully break up within the span of a few hours. Thankfully, there are hundreds of episodes of the original U.K. version of Love Island — all available to stream in the U.S. on Hulu! — filled with exactly that kind of chaos.

12 Latinx Musicians To Have On Your Radar

Bustle

From Selena to Shakira, Celia Cruz to J Balvin, the music world is filled with Latinx icons, new and old. The mesmerizing rhythms of salsa, bachata, and reggaeton are all over modern-day pop — to hear them, all you have to do is listen closely.

 

'The Hills' Cast's Best 2000s Fashion Looks, According To A Costume Designer

Bustle

Few moments on reality television are as iconic as Lauren Conrad's delivery of “Homeboy wore combat boots to the beach.” The line comes in response to The Hills’ bad boy Justin Bobby leaving Audrina Patridge at a bonfire without so much as a goodbye. To comfort her friend, Conrad turns to insulting the man who wronged her in the language she knows best: fashion.

 

11 Things I Noticed Watching The Bachelorette For The First Time

Bustle

I love reality dating shows. Before watching The Bachelorette for the first time, I felt prepared with the hundreds of hours I have spent watching shows like Love Island, Millionaire Matchmaker and Too Hot To Handle, to name a few. When Katie Thurston’s season began, I expected the show to be like Love Island’s conservative Christian grandmother: more structured, heavier on commitment, but still full of the dramatic moments I crave in a reality show.

A Dating Expert Explains Why Everyone Sleeps With Everyone On Gossip Girl

Bustle

The original Gossip Girl series begins with one key conflict: Blair (Leighton Meester) finds out that her best friend Serena (Blake Lively) slept with her boyfriend. It’s the first of countless romantic betrayals and heartbreaks that fuel the series, driving both the plot and the show’s sex-focused PR strategy (see: those infamous posters, that semi-racy New York Magazine cover).

 

The Clothes In Genera+ion Will Make You Miss The Mall

Bustle

The first thing we learn about Chester (Justice Smith) in HBO Max’s Genera+ion is that clothes are the one hill he is willing to die on. Unlike the rest of his bland classmates, he struts onto campus in a rainbow striped crop top, a floral yellow holographic choker and a pair of tiny tinted sunglasses.

 

The Nostalgic, Uncanny Delights Of Sarah Ramos' Instagram "Quarantscenes"

Bustle

Before the wigs, the famous co-stars and the loyal following came to define her "Quarantscene" Instagram videos, Sarah Ramos was just trying to figure out how to use TikTok over the Thanksgiving holiday. She turned to what she knew best — the 2000 cheerleader classic Bring It On — to make sense of the new medium, filming a re-creation of the scene where Missy and Torrance get into a fight over the Toros' stolen routine in her driveway. Then people asked for more.

Are Your Beauty Products Toxic? A New Senate Bill Aims to Tackle Unregulated Ingredients

Vogue

It’s been almost 80 years since Congress passed legislation to manage the beauty industry, but a new bill that was introduced today would completely change the way we regulate cosmetics.

 

How My Colorist Fixed the Biggest Hair-Dye Mistake I’ve Ever Made

Allure

On an ill-fated day last summer, I went into a glitzy Lower Manhattan salon to get a simple trim and left with dark red hair. I'm not sure how it happened, but the color was sold to me as a temporary gloss, something to make my hair shinier and healthier. But once my hair was dry, I started to panic. It was inexplicably and totally red.

 

What The History Of Kissing In Film Can Tell Us About Ourselves, According To The Experts

Bustle

Kissing is an art, and like all art forms, the dominant style changes across eras. In movies especially, there are the classics, the rebels and the anomalies that happened ahead of their time. Audiences have been mesmerized and scandalized by this intimate act for over a century.

A List of Questions I Had While Watching 'Cats'

Bustle

When the first trailer for Tom Hooper's Cats adaptation dropped in July, it was met with panic, excitement, and confusion. "I can never let our cats see this trailer," wrote IndieWire's Kate Erbland. "I don't know why you're all freaking out over miniature yet huge cats with human celebrity faces and sexy breasts performing a demented dream ballet for kids," podcaster Louis Virtel tweeted.

 

'Mrs. Fletcher' Merges The Fantasy & Reality Of Porn In One Standout Episode

Bustle

“Lick my nipples,” Eve Fletcher instructs her one-night stand Michael after throwing him onto the bed in a white wine-induced frenzy. Her cozy green sweater crumpled on the floor, she leans her head back in ecstasy, until — “Now you lick mine,” Michael instructs. The record scratches; the moment is spoiled.

 

Meet The Designer Making Timeless L.A-Crafted Shoes

Los Angeleno

Brigitte Sharp gave birth to her daughter, Simone on December 16, 2017. The same day her own grandmother passed away. The synchronicity of these two life events gave her a jolt. One whose momentum led her to create Lou, a luxury brand of handcrafted footwear in L.A.

I Want To Stop Meddling In My Friends' Love Lives, So I Got An Expert To Help

Elite Daily

“You know this is going to end horribly, right?” My college roommate and I were making gouda grilled cheeses (a staple in our apartment), and as soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I had made a grave error. That moment left a frost in the air that didn’t melt away for months.

 

Meet the Female Rock Star Who Practices Yoga During Sound Checks

Vogue

Any fan of the Korean-American musician Michelle Zauner, who just performed at Bonnaroo as her solo project Japanese Breakfast, knows she draws plenty of inspiration from Karen O—and in no area more notably than her sense of spectacle.

 

20 years later, is 'american history x' outdated or more relevant than ever?

i-D

Tony Kaye’s 1998 film American History X gave us one of the first nuanced understandings of how the seeds of white supremacy are planted, which is why, 20 years after its release, it continues to resonate. Especially last week, when 11 people were killed during a morning Shabbat service at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, where two black people were killed in a grocery store in Kentucky, and when three men were convicted of plotting to bomb Somali refugees at a mosque in Kansas — all at the hands of white men.

5 New, Eco-Friendly Beauty Brands, Just in Time for Earth Day

Vogue

Today is Earth Day, and no matter where you stand on the fight for climate change—the biggest threat to humanity, according to the U.N.—chances are you’re here for better air quality, water, and renewable energy. A great first step towards saving the planet? Revitalizing your beauty regimen.

 

5 Japanese Hot Spring Baths to Put on Your Bucket List

Vogue

With Tokyo Fashion Week coming to a close, there is much to see and do outside of the collections—from the gardens to the shrines and the obligatory (and adorable) stationery store romps. However, few visitors know that across the volcanically active country lie thousands of natural hot springs known as onsen.