A few days ago, the LA Times posted an article about a meeting of Hollywood ladies where they decided to have some real talk about inequality in the industry and the struggles that women face.  This meeting happened at Sundance, and ended up having a somewhat raw exchange about the challenges women working in the […]

Much like the sign I saw at the March this past weekend proclaiming “Too much to protest to fit on one sign,” I find myself nearly overwhelmed by the choices of all the terrible things that are happening to pick even one to blog about.  So, in the time honored tradition of turning to Hollywood for […]

As the election season winds down and the last debate is finally over, what shows should make it onto a feminist tv list? And what is a feminist tv list anyways?   Evaluating a Show for the Feminist TV List My criteria* include considerations of whether it is: (a) made by women or featuring women who […]

Sex assaults happen too frequently for men to be shocked by the stories.

As my due date (and belly) loom larger in my third trimester, I have been spending more and more time on activities that can be done from the comfort of my couch. While I regularly rotate through NPR, the NY Times, and This American Life for news and entertainment, during this sedentary time I have […]

In late 2014, the Sony Pictures email hack revealed a substantial gender-based pay gap. Of the most notable revelations was that Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence was paid substantially less than her male co-stars for her role in American Hustle. The hack also revealed that Hannah Minghella, co-president of Columbia Pictures, earns almost $1 million less […]

Racial disparities on television are nothing new. When I was a child in the late 1980s, I remember having an internal struggle about whether my career of choice would be professional athlete or superhero. I also remember coming to the conclusion that because no superheroes had brown skin, that professional athlete would be the more […]

Much has been written about the revealing nature of women’s Halloween costumes. In fact, some would argue that there really is just one costume choice these days: “Sexy _____” (fill in the blank). Sexy Nurse, Sexy Cat, Sexy Pumpkin. Here at Shattering the Ceiling, we would like to offer our readers an alternative to the skimpy. […]

Punk rock has long been associated with raw energy and disenfranchised white, male youth. However, over the years women and minorities have come to identify with punk rock themes like exclusion from mainstream society, poverty, and life on the fringes. Despite feeling a connection to the music, women, and minorities have long complained of rampant […]

I saw a great film recently called “The Clouds of Sils Maria” that features a superb female cast. (Warning: Spoilers Ahead!) The film is rich and complicated, and features multiple parallels between the relationships of the characters, both real and fictional. One theme that really stood out to me was the film’s treatment of older […]