Illustration depicting a man with a sword drawn confronting a man and woman standing in a doorway in pajamas.

Family, Liberty, and Vermont: The Allegiance of Ethan Allen in the Revolutionary Era

He held multiple allegiances during the Revolution, all of which were connected or stemmed from the importance he placed on familial self-preservation.
Illustration of a black mother working, doing housework, and caring for a child

Daddy Issues

The murderous hysteria over white patrimony is inseparable from the private capture of both economic opportunity and political authority.
James Dobson speaking at a Focus on the Family event

The Eugenics Roots of Evangelical Family Values

Although they have different beliefs, eugenicists and evangelicals have historically worked together to further a joint agenda.
A painting of a "traditional" mid-20th century nuclear family.

All in the Family Debt

How neoliberals and conservatives came together to undo the welfare state.
Book cover of Counterrevolution by Melinda Cooper.

A Tax Haven in a Heartless World: On Melinda Cooper’s “Counterrevolution”

Why should taxpayers fund schools that violate their own values, the Moms for Liberty wonder? A new book traces how this kind of thinking about public spending came to be.
A photograph of two women and a man, arms and legs linked, lying on grass.
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Polyamory Isn't Just for Liberals

In the history of sexual dissent, the relationship between politics and sexual freedom defies simplistic categorization.
A women's suffrage demonstration with banners on the steps of the US Capitol in 1917.

Feminism in the Dock

Can (and should) conservatives reclaim feminism from the radicals?
Nineteenth century nuclear family.
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How Government Helped Create the “Traditional” Family

Since the mid-nineteenth century, many labor regulations in the US have been crafted with the express purpose of strengthening the male-breadwinner family.
Photographs of a family sitting at table, a woman in a crowd, and parents holding signs of support at a pride parade.

How One Mother’s Love for Her Gay Son Started a Revolution

In the sixties and seventies, fighting for the rights of queer people was considered radical activism. To Jeanne Manford, it was just part of being a parent.
The son of Robert "Whitey" Fuller, director of publicity for Dartmouth athletics, and other children playing football, Dartmouth, 1946.

'Hit the Line Hard'

During the cold war, football’s violence became precisely its point.
A man is lying on his side in a hospital bed; Mesha Irizarry sits beside him, a hand on his shoulder.

Deconstructing HIV and AIDS on "Designing Women"

Shows from "Mr. Belvedere" to "Grace Under Fire" fought ignorance and prejudice with more care and passion than many who had been elected to public office
An eight photo collage of pictures showing the proper way for women to smile

Just Wear Your Smile

Few who encounter Positive Psychology via self-help books and therapy know that its gender politics valorize the nuclear family and heterosexual monogamy.
Drawing of a theater performer looking off to the side.

How Love Conquered a Convent: Catholicism and Gender Disorder on the 1830s Stage

'Pet of the Petticoats' extends the reach of Anglo-Atlantic anti-Catholicism to the stage, illustrating the ways its tropes and anxieties moved across genres.
Cartoon of History of American Slavery book chasing a child.

They Want Your Child!

How right-wing school panics seek to repeal modernity and progress.
Gov. Ron DeSantis shows an image from the children's book "Call Me Max" by transgender author Kyle Lukoff before signing the Parental Rights in Education bill in Shady Hills, Fla. on March 28.

How Anita Bryant Helped Spawn Florida's LGBTQ Culture War

Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, is part of a long legacy of anti-gay rhetoric and legislation in the state.
Josh Hawley at Senate confirmation hearing

Stranger Dangers: The Right's History of Turning Child Abuse Into a Political Weapon

Josh Hawley’s attacks on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson are part of a long, sad tradition.
Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers speaking before the appearance of former president Donald Trump at a Save America Rally on Jan 15th in Florence, Arizona.
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The Bond That Explains Why Some on the Christian Right Support Putin’s War

Russia has become an ally in a global movement.
Cover of an early Superman comic book.

The Vigilante World of Comic Books

A sweeping new history traces the rise of characters caught in a Manichaean struggle between good and evil.
Masked person wearing transgender flag around their neck holding heart-shaped sign with colors of transgender flag (blue, pink, and white) that reads "TRANS PEOPLE BELONG"
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Anti-Trans Legislation has Never Been About Protecting Children

The roots of “protecting children” in U.S. political rhetoric lie in efforts to defend white supremacy.
illustration of a traditional housewife in the kitchen, baking for her husband

No, Rush Limbaugh Did Not Hijack Your Parents’ Christianity

White evangelicals have long been attracted to the conservative media's militant politics and regressive gender roles.