+ Videos of Saudi Women Daring to Drive | Social media is helping to change the world once again.

The main force behind the protest is Manal Al Sharif, who was arrested on May 22nd for disturbing the public order by uploading a video to YouTube of herself driving. In that video, Sharif and the woman filming her lament the humiliations and expenses that women must endure by having to depend on taxis, hired drivers, or family members for rides. One woman she knows spends a third of her salary on her driver, Sharif says.

+ What I Learned From Architect Barbie | Barbie gets a makeover, and a new career, thanks to a University of Michigan research fellow.

I had expected Barbie to show up in a black power suit and Corbusier eyeglasses. In other words, architecture would come first, Barbie second. Instead, some students reversed the order. Their dolls explored architecture on Barbie’s own terms, from an über-feminine angle that celebrated fashion, hairstyles and makeup. In these dolls, I was confronted by the “femmenism” or “girl power” of a younger generation, which seeks empowerment by playing up femininity in contexts that prohibit it.

+ Detroit’s school for young moms rescued from closure | Although the school will be taken over by a charter school company, it is a major victory for young women in need of more flexible education opportunities.

A school for teen mothers with a 90% graduation rate (almost twice the national average) was slated for closure this year due to the draconian budget cuts being administered in Detroit. To add additional controversy, the decision was made by anemergency manager, appointed by the Governor, in a seeming effort to side-step the decision-making powers of elected officials.

+ The Cost of Starring in a Morality Play, or the Amber Portwood Story

This is an ancient kind of story, Amber’s is. We hold up “fallen” women as cautionary tales so that others will know not to follow their wanton paths. But being propped up as the fallen woman is never very much fun.

+ Yoplait Pulls Ad Accused of Promoting Eating Disorders | When advertising crosses the fine line between promoting a product and encouraging unhealthy behavior.

Today the National Eating Disorders Association applauded Yoplait for agreeing to pull a yogurt ad that echos the internal monologue of someone suffering from an eating disorder. In its defense, the company says it didn’t see anything wrong with the ad — and that’s precisely the problem.