Picking women over 40 to advertise your product will get your company easy press — and often praise. When the tire manufacturer Pirelli featured Charlotte Rampling, Helen Mirren, and Julianne Moore, among others, in its famous 2017 calendar, the New York Times suggested that Pirelli had broken “fashion’s last taboo,” which apparently is aged flesh. So transgressive, to imagine that women over 50 could be considered attractive.

When the U.S. government put out an open call for proposals for an Apollo suit in 1962, the Speciality Products Division (SPD) of International Latex Corporation proposed a new kind of textile. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), the combination of materials that comprised the textile was something with which ILC was deeply familiar: “the nylon tricot of the bra surface, the polyester webbing of a bra strap, and the dipped rubber out of which a girdle was made."

“Going to get a haircut can be such an intimate experience,” You + Sundry salon founder Kim Goulbourne told me, “and some people will refuse to get a haircut just because they don’t want to tolerate ignorance or harassment.” It’s a very vulnerable position to be in, asking a stranger to alter your physical appearance to help you express how you see yourself and how you want to be seen. “Being part of the LGBTQ+ community [and] already knowing most places may not be safe to be yourself immediately triggers discomfort.”

Born Sarah Breedlove in Louisiana in 1867 to a formerly enslaved couple, Walker was truly self-made. After working as a laundress, she landed a job as a sales agent for the black entrepreneur Annie Turnbo Malone, who sold hair care products and cosmetics. Walker went on to launch her own business, selling hair care and skin care products to black women. Her business expanded across the country, and Walker trained and employed thousands of black women.

Descended from a long line of priestesses, likely based on the actual rain queens of South Africa, Storm is unambiguously black, albeit with white hair and blue eyes that signal her superpowers. Her mother was a Kenyan princess, and her father was an African-American photojournalist. Born Ororo Munroe, Storm was initially portrayed in the comics as a dark-skinned black woman, but the actresses who’ve depicted her on the silver screen have looked more racially ambiguous.

“I’ve been hearing from women who are in their 20s and 30s and 40s who have been reading comics for decades who have never seen a woman on the cover of a comic that looks like them. And I think that makes people feel like they’re welcome in comics, and that this medium is for them, when, maybe they’ve always loved comics but they haven’t felt welcome before is a huge thing.”

The large number of black girls told they’re dressed inappropriately compared to other students likely stems from interlinked gender- and race-based stereotypes. In addition to having their clothes scrutinized, black girls have received dress-code citations for wearing their hair in natural styles like braids or afros. Native American students with long hair or mohawks have also been penalized by schools for embracing traditional styles. And LGBTQ students are disproportionately cited for dress-code violations for not conforming to gender standards.

Red lipstick can function as armor. It has a long and storied history and has always been associated with symbolism. Suffragettes wore it as a symbol of “defiance.” Women wore it during World War II patriotically, in colors like “Victory Red.” It’s the color of power and confidence, which is an appropriate choice for a woman who just might be a symbol of the future of politics in our country.

Lisa Bloom, the attorney who represented four of five Marciano’s accusers, said in a statement that she’s pleased by Marciano’s resignation. But the lawyer, who’s represented other models with harassment claims, added that Guess needs to take decisive action to truly make amends. “We are disappointed that Mr. Marciano will remain on the board through 2019,” Bloom said. “We do not believe a man with so many credible accusations of sexual assault is fit to lead any company, much less one that sells primarily to women.”

Bill SB 826 would make public companies headquartered in California without women on their board add at least one by the end of 2019. The bill also states that by 2021, companies with five directors would have to have two women on their board, and those with six or more directors would have to add at least three. The proposed legislation echoes the policy of some European countries; Norway, Germany, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, and France have quotas and fines in place for their publicly traded companies to add women. The state Assembly will vote on SB 826 by August 31, and if passed, California will become the first state in the US to enforce such a rule.

Male politicians have purposely scaled back on their wardrobes, embracing “uniforms” so they spend less time and effort deciding what to wear. One of President Barack Obama’s famous productivity hacks was paring down to just blue or gray suits. Unfortunately, women haven’t had the same privilege. In 2013, Janet Yellen was mocked after she sported the same ensemble a whole month apart.

The terms soccer mom hair and mom hair both first seem to appear on Urban Dictionary in 2008, the same year that we hit peak mom hair. That was when Kate Gosselin, the mom of eight who appeared in the TLC reality show Jon and Kate Plus 8, came fully into our collective consciousness. Her short, severely angled bob was streaked at least three different colors and featured a spiky crown in the back. It was a Frankenstein’s monster of a style and soon became shorthand for mom hair everywhere. It was understood not to be “good” hair.