TED Talks
Shabana Basij-Rasikh: Dare to educate Afghan girls
Imagine a country where girls must sneak out to go to school, with deadly consequences if they get caught learning. This was Afghanistan under the Taliban, and traces of that danger remain today. 22-year-old Shabana Basij-Rasikh runs a...
TED Talks
Liza Donnelly: Drawing on humor for change
New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly shares a portfolio of her wise and funny cartoons about modern life -- and talks about how humor can empower women to change the rules.
Crash Course
Theories of Gender: Crash Course Sociology
Why is gender even a thing? To answer that, we’re going back to our three sociological paradigms and how each school of thought approaches gender theory. We’ll look at the structural functionalist view that gender is a way of organizing...
Crash Course
The Handmaid's Tale, Part 2: Crash Course Literature 404
This week, John Green continues to teach you about Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction, The Handmaid's Tale. In this installment, we're looking at Atwood's desire to tell a story from a female point of view, and what exactly it means...
TED Talks
TED: The laws that sex workers really want | Juno Mac
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Everyone has an opinion about how to legislate sex work (whether to legalize it, ban it or even tax it) ... but...
TED Talks
TED: A queer vision of love and marriage | Tiq Milan and Kim Katrin Milan
Love is a tool for revolutionary change and a path toward inclusivity and understanding for the LGBTQ+ community. Married activists Tiq and Kim Katrin Milan have imagined their marriage -- as a transgender man and cis woman -- a model of...
TED Talks
Cecile Richards: The political progress women have made -- and what's next
Women have made enormous progress over the last century -- challenging the status quo, busting old taboos and changing business from the inside out. But when it comes to political representation, there's still a long way to go, says...
TED Talks
Courtney E. Martin: This isn't her mother's feminism
Blogger Courtney E. Martin examines the perennially loaded word "feminism" in this personal and heartfelt talk. She talks through the three essential paradoxes of her generation's quest to define the term for themselves.
TED Talks
Kakenya Ntaiya: Empower a girl, transform a community
Kakenya Ntaiya turned her dream of getting an education into a movement to empower vulnerable girls and bring an end to harmful traditional practices in Kenya. Meet two students at the Kakenya Center for Excellence, a school where girls...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: History's "worst" nun | Theresa A. Yugar
Juana Ramírez de Asbaje sat before a panel of prestigious theologians, jurists, and mathematicians. They had been invited to test Juana's knowledge with the most difficult questions they could muster. But she successfully answered every...
TED Talks
TED: A political party for women's equality | Sandi Toksvig
Women's equality won't just happen -- not unless more women are put in positions of power, says Sandi Toksvig. In a disarmingly hilarious talk, Toksvig tells the story of how she helped start a new political party in Britain, the Women's...
TED Talks
TED: How I'm working for change inside my church | Chelsea Shields
How do we respect someone's religious beliefs, while also holding religion accountable for the damage those beliefs may cause? Chelsea Shields has a bold answer to this question. She was raised in the orthodox Mormon tradition, and she...
TED Talks
TED: What young women believe about their own sexual pleasure | Peggy Orenstein
Why do girls feel empowered to engage in sexual activity but not to enjoy it? For three years, author Peggy Orenstein interviewed girls ages 15 to 20 about their attitudes toward and experiences of sex. She discusses the pleasure that's...
TED Talks
Jen Gunter: Why can't we talk about periods?
"It shouldn't be an act of feminism to know how your body works," says gynecologist and author Jen Gunter. In this revelatory talk, she explains how menstrual shame silences and represses -- and leads to the spread of harmful...
TED Talks
TED: Why I'm done trying to be "man enough" | Justin Baldoni
Justin Baldoni wants to start a dialogue with men about redefining masculinity -- to figure out ways to be not just good men but good humans. In a warm, personal talk, he shares his effort to reconcile who he is with who the world tells...
Crash Course
Harriet Martineau Gender Conflict Theory Crash Course Sociology
Today we’re exploring another branch of conflict theory: gender conflict theory, with a look at sociology’s forgotten founder, Harriet Martineau. We’ll also discuss the three waves of feminism, as well as intersectionality.
TED Talks
TED: We should all be feminists | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. We teach girls that they can have ambition, but not too much ... to be successful, but not too successful, or...
TED Talks
Ananya Grover: A campaign for period positivity
Having your period is exhausting -- and for many people across the world, menstruation is even more challenging because of stigmas and difficulty getting basic hygiene supplies, says social activist Ananya Grover. In this uplifting,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How one journalist risked her life to hold murderers accountable - Christina Greer
Ida B. Wells was an investigative journalist, civil rights leader, and anti-lynching advocate who fought for equality and justice. -- In the late 1800’s, lynchings were happening all over the American South, often without any...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The historic women’s suffrage march on Washington - Michelle Mehrtens
Explore how the Women’s Suffrage Parade on Washington in 1913 helped women secure the right to vote in the United States through the 19th amendment. -- On March 3, 1913, after months of strategic planning and controversy, thousands of...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How one scientist took on the chemical industry
In 1958, after receiving a letter describing the deaths of songbirds due to the pesticide known as DDT, Rachel Carson began an investigation into the misuse of chemicals and their toll on nature. In 1962, she published her findings in...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The meaning of life according to Simone de Beauvoir - Iseult Gillespie
At the age of 21, Simone de Beauvoir became the youngest person to take the philosophy exams at France’s most esteemed university. But as soon as she mastered the rules of philosophy, she wanted to break them. Her desire to explore the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Iseult Gillespie: The wicked wit of Jane Austen
Whether she's describing bickering families, quiet declarations of love, or juicy gossip, Jane Austen's writing often feels as though it was written just for you. Her dry wit and cheeky playfulness informs her heroines, whose...
TED Talks
Kakenya Ntaiya: A girl who demanded school
Kakenya Ntaiya made a deal with her father: She would undergo a traditional Maasai rite of passage, female circumcision, if he would let her go to high school. Ntaiya tells the fearless story of continuing on to college, and of working...