play Archives | A WOMEN’S THING

Esperanza Spalding, High School Dropout Turned Grammy Winner

Often considered a musical prodigy, in 2011 Esperanza Spalding became the first jazz musician to win a Grammy for Best New Artist.

Althea Gibson, the First African American to Break the Color Barrier in Tennis

Often compared to Jackie Robinson, Althea Gibson was the first African American to break the color barrier in tennis.

The Complicated Gender History of Pink and Blue

Gender stereotypes have been present throughout history but until recently, pink and blue had opposite meanings as gender markers.

Sid on Sex: Instead of Slut Shaming, Let’s Embrace the Label

What if instead of slut shaming, we could proudly own our hard-earned right to pleasure?

Sid Azmi, Owner of Please Pleasure Shop, New York

Sid on Sex: A Valentine’s Day Gift That Lasts

On Valentine’s Day, instead of purchasing a symbolic gift, take the opportunity to rewrite your own relationship terms and reactivate your commitment.

Life is very tough. If you don't laugh, it's tough. –Joan Rivers

How Joan Rivers Paved the Way for Female Comedians

Comedy legend Joan Rivers ripped through the comedy world with her razor-sharp jokes and self-deprecating humor.

How Monopoly Was Invented: The Anti-Capitalist Board Game

In 1903, Elizabeth Magie filed a patent for The Landlord’s Game. The game had two sets of rules: one where players were rewarded when they bought up property and destroyed the competition, and one where players created shared wealth.

Playing Dress-Up Was My Job … So Who Was I?

Over the years working in costume design, I ushered an actor through the Mississippi swamplands and was ushered through a Las Vegas casino via bodyguard.

Happy Hour with Ivy Mix

Speed Rack’s Ivy Mix is one of those women who comes to mind when you think of the phrase “powerhouse.” She is an artist, in addition to owning one cocktail bar, tending another one and co-founding an international women’s bartending competition, which raises money for breast cancer research. Mix talked to AWT about achieving the right balance of work, play and YOLO.

Poem: Batman by Leigh Lucas

Batman – poem by Leigh Lucas, a writer who lives in San Francisco. She is working on her first collection of poems.

When a Sex Shop Opens in the Neighborhood

Sid is standing on the shoulders of brazen, sex-loving giants. Please wouldn’t be there at all if not for the early pioneers who, starting in the 1970s, established the women’s sex toy industry as we know it, shattering many of the myths surrounding female sexuality along the way.