Have a seat, class. Today’s topic: Airplane Harassment and You.

There's something about an airplane’s confined environment, the forced physical closeness, the expectation of conversation, and the anonymity and brevity of the interaction that makes some people feel comfortable harassing each other in the worst ways. And now, thanks to Virgin CEO Richard Branson, it’s about to get worse.

There are a lot of portrayals of women in the Iron Man franchise that I’m not happy with. In fact, most of the women who appear in each of the three movies are devoid of characterization, empty shells in bikinis who cluster around powerful or wealthy men. Eye candy. Status symbols. Or, as Pepper Potts would say, trophies.

It’s party time at A Study in Pink: it’s our first birthday! A year ago today, the first of 55 (now 56) A Study in Pink articles was published. It’s the most public project I’ve ever done.

It’s also the longest. There are few things that I’ve ever given an entire year to besides eating and respiring. I’ve had this blog longer than my car, my current apartment, and any of my boyfriends.

I was recently having lunch with a dear friend when she asked me a friendly question. Out of all the world’s human rights concerns—disease prevention, hunger, homelessness—why do I work so hard to solve the problem of rape?

I tried to answer. A couple of words escaped my mouth. Then I started crying.

I’m a giant geek, as I’ve mentioned before, and one of my favorite nerd pleasures is comic books. As a child, I looked up to comic women of all types: I wanted to talk like Catwoman, think like Jean Grey, look like Rogue. Above them all, I wanted to be as strong and majestic as DC Comics’ Wonder Woman, a heroine even Superman calls the most magnificent woman he’s ever met.

People have a lot of different ideas about what it means to be feminist, and I’m glad for that. Women aren’t one homogenous monolith with the same beliefs and ideals, and the freedom to choose any way to live is a core tenet of feminism that should never change.

That being said, not every form of feminism is perfect. In fact, I’ve noticed some types of feminism that seem regressive, that might seem even to embrace aspects of patriarchy. And naturally, there are haters out there who love these brands of feminism simply because they’re regressive.

If I believe any truth, it’s this: things get better for women when they’re incorporated into all of society’s discussions. The best thing we can do for women is listen to them.

That’s why I’m always so excited to meet women who confidently present their voices to the world. If we want the world to pay attention to us eagerly, we need women who give the world something great to listen to.

Way back when A Study in Pink was just a baby hypothesis, I wrote about the struggle to balance work and family commitments. A woman named Sheryl Sandberg came up in my research, and back then, I had no idea who she was.

I’m not a fan of comedies, mostly because their characters are broadly drawn and shallow. And romantic comedies are the worst of the worst, because they rely on tired gender stereotypes and Hollywood clichés to establish their characters.

Focus Features’ Admission, starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, occasionally contemplates breaking away from those boring clichés and creating some innovative characters unfamiliar to the rom-com genre. The key word, unfortunately, is “occasionally.”

A warning before you continue: this article will not be fun. I try to discuss sexual violence in a sensitive and tactful way, but some opinions are impossible to state nicely. Because some opinions are not nice. In fact, some people’s opinions make me want to throw up continually for hours and hours. Those opinions perpetuate what we call “rape culture,” and today’s task is to root them out.

We’ve all seen the Facebook posts: pictures of an unsuspecting woman being followed by a menacing man with a black ski mask and a chloroform-soaked rag. Underneath, you find safety tips for women that include parking their cars in well-lit areas and making sure their friends know their whereabouts at all times. And at the bottom in big hysterical letters, you find the call to arms: “Forward this to every woman you know – IT COULD SAVE HER LIFE!!!1!!1!”

Congrats, we just solved the rape problem! Right? … Right?

It’s not every day that I get to say a sentence this full of awesomeness: there’s a theatrical production called “Cleavage Chronicles’ Everybody Loves Boobs!”

Yeah, that was a real sentence.

Being feminist doesn’t mean the same thing for every woman. Feminism isn’t a monolithic, homogenous group where everyone believes, thinks, and votes the same way. And I’m grateful for that, because being a woman is complicated and multifaceted, and that’s why it’s awesome. Women should be free to believe and think whatever they want, and the more varied our opinions, the better.

When we say a movie is “bad,” sometimes we mean, “poorly executed.” And sometimes we mean, “insulting, offensive, and/or just plain wrong.” It’s a red-letter day when we find a movie that does both.

Nicholas Sparks’ new romantic drivel Safe Haven is downright dull in some places, with a plodding plot, uninspiring dialogue, and absolutely zero chemistry between its characters. But it also hits the other definition of “bad” with a very upsetting—and all too common—portrayal of romance.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, I thought about writing a post entitled “How to Date a Feminist.” I thought about tips for how to approach a feminist, what to talk about, what activities to invite her out on, what she wants in a partner, what she contributes as a girlfriend. But then I realized it would only be one sentence long.

Talk to her like she’s a person and find out what she likes.

The reality about marriage is that every marriage is different, and we’re getting better at acknowledging that. When couples try something unconventional, we usually accept that “what may be right for you may not be right for some.” But some conventions persist, and it can be hard to break them.

Since 1994, the American military has been a boys’ club, as women have been barred from serving in ground combat. Women constitute 14 percent of the 1.4 million active military personnel, and many are physically and mentally capable of front-lines combat. However, they are relegated instead to supporting roles, barring their access to high-level training, promotions, and leadership positions.

If you told me last week that I was about to pay good money to see a horror movie in a theater, I would’ve thought you were crazy. The horror genre has the worst history of doing terrible things to female characters, often glorifying (and even sexualizing) violence against helpless and brainless women. I get wary when a new horror movie gets good reviews—because too many people don’t object when they see females get treated like trash in movies.

So when I find a movie that actually features well-developed female characters in active and realistic roles, I perk up a bit.

It’s a brand new Congressional term, and women are finally seeing a rise in representation. Of the 535 members of Congress, 98 are women: 78 in the House of Representatives, 20 in the Senate. Women gained five new Congressional seats, and three states filled both their Senate seats with women.

When we encounter brutal sexual violence, like the gang rape in New Delhi, we demand an end of “rape culture.” We tire of victim-blaming, police negligence, and men who don’t acknowledge that women are humans. Over and over, we ask the question: why is it so hard for people to see that rape is horrible?