1. Amal Clooney Defends Client on BBC, Denounces Trump.

Amal Clooney, AKA the baddest and best-dressed human rights lawyer, activist, and author the world has ever seen, spoke out for the first time as the lawyer for Khadija Ismayilova, one of the most highly regarded investigative journalists and activists in Azerbaijan who is now a political prisoner. In an interview on BBC, she spoke of the importance of supporting the efforts of free speech from journalists interested in telling the truth about corrupt and violent governments, and the troubling rise of anti-free speech on a global scale. In this interview, she also denounced the xenophobia, racism, and sexism of Donald Trump’s rhetoric, and she expressed hopes that Hillary Clinton will rise up and defeat the current Republican favorite as an epic showing of feminist symbolism. Basically, Amal Clooney is a gift to us all.

2. India Institutes Panic Button for Women's Safety.

Hmmm...what does this button do? News emerged from India this week that every mobile phone the subcontinent over must have a ‘panic button’ installed by the year 2017 in a renewed effort to improve women’s public safety. After the horrific and fatal gangrape of a woman on a public bus in 2012, many policymakers have shifted some focus onto women’s health and safety. The specific panic button initiative has found support in some tech-savvy political parties as well as within the Indian Cellular Association, which represents the industry for the entire country. The Daily Business Standard observed that Apple may be hesitant to comply with the new standard. Not to mention the thousands of Indian activists who think a real improvement in women’s safety would require the dismantling of rape culture and not just a shiny new James Bondian tool.

3. Trump Criticizes Hillary's Use of 'Woman Card.'

Pro-tip: be sure to scan your Woman Bonus+ Card at the self check-out kiosks in CVS to save yourself an extra 54-78 cents on the dollar of each purchase. Oh, you haven’t heard? Make sure your Woman Card is up to date because Donald Trump is coming after Hillary about hers. This week, the entertainer scorned Hillary for using this mythical card in her campaign, claiming that if she were a man, she would never have gained momentum as a candidate. He seems to think he’s been polling better amongst women than Hill has been, the response to which is pretty basic: you’re just wrong. Experts say his comments from this week may have just cost him the ‘female vote’--but if you weren’t already turned off by misogynistic rhetoric, the accusations of his committing marital rape, his flagrant disrespect for female journalists like Megyn Kelly, and his creepy comments about his daughter, who knows if this story would be able to swing ya. 

4. Chrissy Teigen Confronts Postpartum Bleeding.

If Chrissy Teigen ran the world, the only taboo still in existence would be the act of speaking Donald Trump’s name aloud. This woman has a consistent record of being open and honest about her experiences as a ~woman~ and crusading against the trope that women are meant to keep ‘private’ matters private. This week’s example came to us when CT, a brand new mom (of only the CUTEST tiny human ever, BTW), tweeted to her millions of followers about needing to wear adult diapers to deal with incontinence and post-partum bleeding. UM HELLO!? TABOO CENTRAL!!! Moms aren’t supposed to discuss their lady bits in public, despite the high likelihood of having just torn those delicate bits in the process of birthing an entirely new human. Yes, we’re laying on the sarcasm as thick as placenta here, folks. Her tweet expressed her shock in this discovery, as these post-birth symptoms are not symptoms that most women are aware of. Lucky for us, we have our sistahs at Icon to keep us up on all the who-ha know-how, but not every woman is as fortunate. We need you, Chrissy Teigen. Also, yes, Chrissy is totally America's Next Top Mom-el this week after she made headlines on Pop Culture Tuesday, too. 

Image via MACMA

5. MACMA Uses Moobs to Demonstrate Breast Cancer Self-Exam.

Speaking of private parts and overt sexism, NowThis (the rad multimedia company with a social justice bent) shared a breast cancer awareness video, created by the Argentinian breast cancer awareness group called MACMA, with step-by-step directions for how to self-examine for abnormalities--without using a single boob. Yeah. They had to demonstrate on man boobs (fondly known as ‘moobs’) because, as we all know, lady nipples are too scandalizing for viewers--viewers who are probably fondling their own nipples while watching the video, as is the objective of self-examination. This clever circumvention of the boob rules (fondly known as bools) managed to spread awareness of breast cancer, which affects all genders, and spread awareness of the hypocrisy of female anatomical censorship and the sexism therein. Success. Read more of my thoughts here.

+ ICYMI > Undie the Surface: Rachel Rolseth / Pop Culture Tuesday / Women's Health Wednesday: Vaginal "Rejuvenation" 

by Team Thinx