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A news conference on the Right to Contraception Act outside the U.S. Capitol on June 5, 2024. (Kent Nishimura / Getty Images)

BY LIVIA FOLLET | Wednesday afternoon, Senate Republicans blocked the Right to Contraception Act, a Democrat-led measure that would have codified the right to contraception into federal law.

“It’s very simple. It just says you have the right to use and healthcare providers have the right to provide contraception,” said Rachel Fey, vice president of policy and strategic partnerships at Power to Decide. “I think this bill is as clear as it gets, and if you can’t get behind that, I don’t think as a policymaker you should be able to say that you’re pro contraception. I think that is something that people deserve to know about their elected officials.”

(Click here to read more)

Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, speaks in the Alabama Senate on May 2, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

BY JEMMA STEPHENSON, ALABAMA REFLECTOR | As of 2022, Alabama was the only state without mothers of children under 18 in the state legislature. Elected officials say that needs to change.

“We need to be really intentional about finding more women, more people of color, more members of other underrepresented groups, and saying, ‘You know, we will support you in running for office,’ but it definitely needs to be intentional. If progress is not, unfortunately, going to happen on its own, there needs to be serious effort put into it,” says Jean Sinzdak, associate director of the Center for American Women and Politics.

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Adult film star Stormy Daniels poses and signs autographs at Chi Chi Larue’s adult entertainment store on May 23, 2018, in West Hollywood. (Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images)

BY JULIE WOSK | During her testimony in Donald Trump’s criminal trial, adult film star Stormy Daniels didn’t mince words: At one point, she acknowledged she had once called him an “orange turd.” 

Daniels’ language was a far cry from the kind of words uttered by today’s talking sex dolls, like the ones produced by California’s RealDoll, a subsidiary of Abyss Creations. These are sexy, custom-made AI-enabled dolls that are programmed to never say anything mean or insulting. They are designed to flatter the user and always be compliant. They never say, “No, don’t do that,” or “Get lost!” Daniels herself gave RealDoll the license to produce Stormy Daniels sex dolls, but these dolls were silent and couldn’t talk. 

The difference between a real-life adult film star and a simulated one tells us much about the kind of sex dolls many users apparently prefer—the ones that have tightly controlled conversations. And the difference tells us much about users social attitudes towards women themselves.

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Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on

Apple Podcasts + Spotify.

In this episode, we continue our series: Fifteen Minutes of Feminism—The Trump Indictments: Found Guilty! (with Moira Donegan). On May 30, 2024, Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts by a New York jury. In this episode, we unpack the criminal charges that Donald Trump engaged in illegal business, electoral and campaign activities. This week, we’re rejoined by Moira Donegan to discuss why the New York trial was about more than about “hush money” and how the case marks the first time a former president has stood trial for criminal prosecution and been convicted.

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