Recent social movements such as the Women’s March, #MeToo, #TimesUp, #BalanceTonPorc (#OutYourPig), and #SayHerName draw attention to the broad spectrum gender-related violence that is pervasive in the United States and around the world.

Since the inauguration of Donald Trump as president, members of his administration have made many statements best described as misleading.

It is curious fact that certain times and places seem to have a particular hold on our popular historical imagination. Such is the case with Germany’s capital city, Berlin, during the short-lived Weimar Republic, recently recreated for TV in the critically acclaimed Netflix series Babylon Berlin.

Clearly, we do not live in a “one for all and all for one” world. Yes, there are some hopeful indicators that pockets of this thinking exist here and there, and it is most encouraging. But, there is much more evidence that “every man for himself” behavior rules the day still on planet Earth, and this could be our undoing as a species if it continues to dominate the behavior of many humans...

Ants have a remorseless quality, seemingly indifferent to their individual welfare, their whole lives submerged in the collective. Try watching a single ant and you’ll soon lose sight of it in the scurrying horde.

Jane Goodall refers to Ervin Laszlo’s observation that most people are evolved enough to know that they need to change, but not evolved enough to know what change they need. Thus, the hardest problem of all might be, as Laszlo states, that many people, including even scientists, do not see what they do not believe.

Women’s writing has long been a thorn in the side of the male literary establishment. From fears in the late 18th century that reading novels – particularly written by women – would be emotionally and physically dangerous for women, to the Brontë sisters publishing initially under male pseudonyms, to...

Like the teens and children who showed up at the White House and elsewhere to protest, Americans must rediscover themselves as a revolutionary people who are not afraid to start over.

In the United States, inequality tends to be framed as an issue of either class, race or both. Consider, for example, criticism that Republicans’ new tax plan is a weapon of “class warfare,” or accusations that the recent U.S. government shutdown was racist.

Ever since the financial crisis of 2008, American society has become increasingly divided. In among its deep fissures, the far right has found a place to incubate and speak out.

In the 1930s, parents across the U.S. were panicked. A new documentary, “Reefer Madness,” suggested that evil marijuana dealers lurked in public schools, waiting to entice their children into a life of crime and degeneracy.

Can you imagine traveling to work in a robotic “Jonnycab” like the one predicted in the cult Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Total Recall?

Imagine a shopper, Sarah, who is concerned about child labor and knows about groups like the Fair Wear Foundation that certify which brands sell ethically produced clothing.

Is water male or female – and does it really matter? English does not allocate gender to words. Although some things, ships and countries for example, often have feminine associations, there are no grammatical rules to make something either male or female.

Masculinity is often, these days, described as “toxic”. In May, Hillary Clinton spoke at a gala where “toxic masculinity” cocktails were reported to have been served. Toxic masculinity even has its own Wikipedia entry.

Many of the commentaries on post-truth have attempted to locate the sources of it. Where does post-truth discourse come from, and who is responsible for producing it?

The word radicalisation has been hijacked by the war on terror and become interchangeable with extremism. But radicalisation is happening in our towns and cities every day as marginalised teenagers and children – left isolated from opportunity – join street gangs.

Does pornography foster harassment and abuse? That was the question posed by a recent New York Times editorial, in the wake of allegations and debate about endemic harassment, objectification, and abuse of women.

Under Hitler, Germany experienced the consequences of a nation caving in to propaganda and hate speech. This may explain its government’s urgency to enact a new law, known as the “Facebook Act,” in response to the recent alarming rise of hate speech online.

In the wake of the numerous accusations of sexual predation, the endemic issue of the harassment and abuse of women is finally causing a stir. It may seem like a new matter to some, but the coming forward of countless women has merely raised age-old questions about women’s voices.

When US President Donald Trump was confronted with the shocking events in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, his response followed his usual style: to attack “mainstream media” reports and try to reframe the media narrative. 

The word “Viking” entered the Modern English language in 1807, at a time of growing nationalism and empire building. In the decades that followed, enduring stereotypes about Vikings developed, such as wearing horned helmets and...

In the immediate aftermath of the October 2 Las Vegas massacre – the US’s 273rd mass shooting in 2017 alone – it seems neither President Donald Trump nor his Republican colleagues will entertain a review of current gun legislation in America.