Audrey Bilger

In comic books, superheroes always have secret identities, and only a handful of people ever get to know the person behind the mask. But readers are insiders, knowing all along that Batman is really Bruce Wayne and Superman is Clark Kent. (Less well-known, except to avid comic readers: Catwoman is Selina Kyle.) In the online world of feminism, the biggest superhero of all is Twitter’s fierce, pithy, patriarchy-smashing Feminist Hulk.

When we last checked in with our big green superhero friend, Feminist Hulk, in his first-ever interview last June (one of the most viewed posts on the Ms. Blog 0f 2010), he was just learning to flex his muscles in the Twittersphere. But his feminist superpowers were mighty and growing stronger ever day. Now, with 40,000 followers and counting, Feminist Hulk is a patriarchy-smashing force to be reckoned with, commenting on current events and social justice issues in condensed, all-caps mega-Tweets.

For up-to-the-minute brilliant political satire, visit Jen Sorensen's current website: http://jensorensen.com.

He’s big. He’s green. His favorite activity is smashing patriarchy and all forms of oppression. He’s Feminist Hulk, and since he first burst onto the Twitter scene less than a month ago he’s gathered more than 10,000 followers, who gleefully re-Tweet his 140-character commentaries on gender, feminism and his own personal superhero, feminist theorist Judith Butler. Tweeting in all-caps, this size-XXXXXXL superhero fights for social justice and breaks down the gender binary–all the while looking “smashing” in purple shorts with a big smile on his face.

Kathryn Bond Stockton's book The Queer Child, or Growing Sideways in the Twentieth Century, takes a bold, theoretically sophisticated [correction to the article version, which, in the edits, inserted the phrase "sophistically nuanced" here] look at an area mainstream culture would prefer to avoid: the sexuality of children.

This is an interview I conducted in the summer of 2005, right after the release of Lesley Gore’s most recent album Ever Since. It was originally supposed to appear in Rockrgrl magazine, a venue dedicated to celebrating women in music, but when that amazing publication folded, I put the interview aside. I feel privileged to have been able to talk with Ms. Gore. She was frank and funny, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to share it here.

Judy Henske interviewed by Audrey Bilger and Cheryl Pawelski for ROCKRGRL.

The Butchies interviewed by Audrey Bilger for ROCKRGRL.

Audrey Bilger and Michael Cunningham discuss his novel The Hours and the film adaptation of it. "There's no reason to be afraid of Virginia Woolf," he says.

STB (Sonia Tetlow Band) interviewed by Audrey Bilger for ROCKRGRL.

Interview with cartoonist Lynda Barry!

Martha Davis interview by Audrey Bilger and Cheryl Pawelski for ROCKRGRL.

Mrs. Fun interviewed by Audrey Bilger and Cheryl Pawelski for ROCKRGRL.

“I cannot recall a time when I did not know I was special,” writes Jeanette Winterson at the beginning of her fictionalized autobiography Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. And, indeed, the facts of her life have supported that view. Born in Manchester in 1959, Winterson was adopted by Pentecostal evangelist Constance Brownrigg and her husband, John William Winterson, a factory worker. From her earliest years she was groomed by her mother and church to be a missionary, and her first forays into the world of letters were the sermons she began preaching at the age of eight.