7 Websites Women Should Find Interesting

hilaryclintonYou knew this was going to happen. After 7 Websites Every Man Should Be Reading and the ensuing shenanigans, how could this not come to pass?!

Now, I’ve learned a thing or twelve since then, but I’ve forgotten all of them. So on with the article, and my whimsical take on7 Websites Women Should Find Interesting.

7. EmpowHER

empowherMore focused on women’s health issues than general medical sites like WebMD, EmpowHer shares not only sound advice but the stories of women who have overcome challenging situations such as breast cancer, menopause, and heart disease. To hear the story from the mouth of an average woman and see her eyes as she talks about it, can only serve to let other women know that they are not alone. They can overcome too.


EmpowHer has a clean, easy to use layout featuring news stories, community involvement, health resources and links to health care providers. What I really like about this site is its pedigree. Michelle King Robson is the founder of this site, and she is also someone who has had female health problems. She suffered through the after-effects of a hysterectomy and went on to use her negative experience to provide a much more positive one for thousands of women.

6. Cooking for Engineers

banana_breadBefore the flames begin (and I know they will no matter what I say) Cooking for Engineers is not a comment on the so-called traditional role of women as home makers.

Instead, this site is included to reach out to those women who build homes! Or anything else for that matter. Hey, we all have to eat! So why not appeal to the analytical mind of those science-oriented ladies out there?

I love the absolute precision with which the recipes are laid out. They tell you what to do, and why, just as any good geek would want it. Check this out:

Banana Nut Bread (about 10 servings)

Butter and flour a loaf pan
Preheat oven to 350°F (170°C)
2 large (250 g) ripe bananas mash mash until smooth fold bake 350°F (170°C) 55 min. cool 10 min. in pan cool on wire rack
6 Tbs. (90 mL) butter melt
1 tsp. (5 mL) vanilla extract
2 large eggs lightly beat
1-1/3 cups (167 g) all-purpose flour whisk
2/3 cup (130 g) sugar
1/2 tsp. (2.3 g) baking soda
1/4 tsp. (1.2 g) baking powder
1/2 tsp. (3 g) salt
1/2 cup (70 g) chopped walnuts

I love my banana bread! Even more, I love my tables!

5. MIT OpenCourseWear – Women’s and Gender Studies

wgs_logo_borderConfused a bit about why it’s called Women’s and Gender Studies? Because really, wouldn’t it be more inclusive to simply call it Gender Studies? MIT’s OpenCourseWear program is an excellent source for people that want to learn more, in an academic, structured manner but may not have the time or money to commit to a college education.

The courses are NOT for credit and cannot be applied towards a certificate, diploma or degree. you can access the materials for free. Keeping in mind that the cost to MIT to present these materials is about $10,000 per course, you may want to donate a few dollars, or whatever you can spare, for each course that you work through.

4. Susie’s AlaskaMen

AKMen2009CoverDon’t take my word for this site. I asked my lovely wife what a good website would be for women to look at real, sexy, everyday men. Before I could get the question out of my mouth, she told me about this site, perhaps a little too excitedly. Is that a bad sign?

Apparently there are way more men than women in Alaska, (4:1 ratio) and the men tend to live active, outdoor lives that give them that rugged, silent type thing that some women are really into. I’m more of the soft-around-the-middle over-opinionated type. Hmmmm.

Susie knows her stuff as the bride of a man who moved to Alaska seeking adventure. Well, I’m sure living with a woman who is the expert on Alaskan men is adventure enough! Good for you Susie!

3. Bad Ass of the Week

harriet_tubmanYes, BAOTW is back in this list. Why, you might ask? Because no one combines history and insight into self-assertiveness like a bad ass. That, and I hear that women like bad boys. I wouldn’t know since I’m pretty vanilla.

But seriously, being able to assert one’s self and stand up for what they believe is not the sole-domain, nor a defining characteristic of men only. I daresay that those women that were bad asses did more to change the world for the better than any ten of the bad ass men listed. My personal favourite is Harriet Tubman.

Harriet Tubman personally freed some 1,000 enslaved people, going back and forth into hostile areas. The slave-states had a bounty on her head worth what would be about 4 million dollars today. Harriet is not only an example to women, oppressed people but to all humans who should face tyranny and bring tyranny down. She who saves a life, saves the world, to paraphrase a famous quote.

2. Parenting

parentingAlthough I take issue with this site, and magazine, being called ‘Parenting’ and not having a section for Dads, overall it is an excellent resource for parents of any gender.

It is a commercial venture and has a fair bit of advertising, yet it does cover the gambit from pre-pregnancy to childhood. Articles by experts in the field, parents, and product reviews serve to help you navigate the oft-travelled seldom-mapped world of parenthood.

1. The F-Word

the_f_wordI was unable to find a site that was similar in nature to The Art of Manliness but for women.  Perhaps you might enlighten me. However, what I did find was a website called The F-Word. That word being, shhhh…..‘feminism’. Oh, I said it! I went there.

What appeals to me about this site, and I believe it will appeal to all genders, is that it accentuates the feminine in feminism. The F-Word addresses activism, equal rights, politics and stereotypes in a way that doesn’t scream man-hater.

It is unfortunate that such a small faction of feminists has turned off so many people from the true aims of feminism. The F-Word is full of professional and user-generated content that is sure to enlighten anyone who would take the time to be objective for just a few minutes.

There it is – my take on 7 Interesting Websites for Women. For what it’s worth, I know there are more out there, that you may deem more worthy. However, these are sites that can benefit anyone of any gender and hopefully contribute to a better day for all ahead.

Ladies, can you tell us your favourite and essential sites?

Tagged: • •

Guy McDowell

I am an IT generalist who is classically trained, but has the mental agility to take on other tasks. I’ve worked in government, education, for profit and, non-profit organizations. On any given day, I can be found doing project management, programming or designing, installing a solar panel or climbing a well head to install a transmitter. Working with people or alone, I strive to do the best job possible in the best manner possible.

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  • http://founderandperfecter.wordpress.com Ben Mordecai

    Every woman should read feminist websites?

    • http://ubuntulinuxtipstricks.blogspot.com Mackenzie

      Men too! The patriarchy harms them just as much. All this “Real Men…” crap. “Boys don’t cry” “Real Men know how to pick up chicks” “Real Men don’t wear nail polish” “Real Men know how to fight” blah blah blah.

      • http://www.guymcdowell.com Guy McDowell

        I agree. It drives me nuts when people say white men have all the power. Let’s correct that – a few ULTRARICH white men (and some women and people of other colours) have all the power.

        I don’t have enough power to blow my nose on most days.

  • http://protoscholar.com rebecca

    Even if she doesn’t self-identify as a feminist every woman should be aware of the issues around gender that still exist in this world. Even the less political ones, such as less money going to medical research on women-specific topics and insufficient testing of pharmaceuticals on both genders when there are known issues with drugs performing differently.

  • http://ubuntulinuxtipstricks.blogspot.com Mackenzie

    New blog (as of Monday): Geek Feminism.

    • http://www.guymcdowell.com Guy McDowell

      Good call. I had a brief look at it, and liked what I saw.

  • JackTheHat

    Just a thought, but maybe you could have found, you know, an actual *woman* to write an article called “7 Websites Every Woman Should Be Reading”? Or perhaps Guy has some special insight into the female condition and knows better what women ought to read?

    • http://www.guymcdowell.com Guy McDowell

      That’s kind of a sexist comment, isn’t it? ;) I thought men and women were equal.

      I did the research along with my wife. Perhaps she should get a byline on the article, but I also mentioned her in the part about Alaskan Men.

    • http://www.freewritingcenter.com Ryan Dube

      Trust me – if he’s married to one, he has all of the insight he needs.

      • http://www.guymcdowell.com Guy McDowell

        I told my wife about your comment. At first she was upset. Then I told her who made it, and she laughed!

  • muyi

    #5 isn’t that meant to be OpenCourseWare?

    • http://www.guymcdowell.com Guy McDowell

      Yes, it should be. I thought I copied and pasted that from their site, but I could be wrong.

  • Alize

    If you know flames are coming, and people aren’t, on the whole, responding positively, do you think there’s a reason for that?

    Like so many other women today, I’m just sick to the back teeth of “Men have a penis, girls have a vagina” articles. God knows there’s nothing I’d rather do than spend my day looking at pictures of handsome men and collecting recipes (I know, they’re cleverly dolled up in science). And why should we segregate ourselves to medical sites geared specifically toward women when huge sites like webmd have large, active communities where we can get info on topics that relate to both men and women (you may know that women don’t only have “female troubles”).

    I didn’t mean this to be a diatribe, but can’t you honestly see, in your heart of hearts, how this post comes off as condescending? But hey, you got one woman’s opinion, who happens to be your wife, so it’s ok, right?

    It’s too depressing to visit this site anymore. I really thought this was one site where I would never have to deal with this silly crap.

    • http://www.guymcdowell.com Guy McDowell

      I’m sorry to hear that you feel that way. Judging by the number of views, retweets, and such, I would say that this article was getting a positive response.

      In my experience, the majority of people that comment on an article, unless it is spectacularly good AND unique, comment in a negative fashion.

      Are you sure that I feel that women should segregate themselves to medical sites geared towards women? Or am I mentioning this resource as an adjunct to other medical sites?

      As far as recipes and good-looking men, is it really condescending to mention such sites? The majority of women eat, and like men. I don’t mean to be facetious, but really, isn’t this true?

      You didn’t mention my reference to Women and Gender Studies at MIT, or Bad Ass of the Week. Were those sites condescending as well, or did they seem alright? If they seemed alright, then you got something positive out of this article. Which is more than one might say about many articles on the web.

      As far as getting advice from my wife – had you ever met her you would know that she has no problem letting me know if something is BS or not, and frankly, she liked it. In no way is my wife a ‘traditional’ woman, having run her own business and driven truck where most male truck-drivers won’t go. She was also a single mother for the majority of her life, before I met her. This is no debutante here, and I respect her opinion more than anyone else on Earth. And she says you should get the chip off your shoulder.

    • http://www.freewritingcenter.com Ryan Dube

      I’d actually be quite interested to read a female’s perspective on what she thinks the best sites for men would be…I would hope she’d ask her husband for his input, and that she’d take it just as seriously as Guy took this article, and not just list sites about babes and cars. In my opinion Guy offered a very well balanced list from a unique perspective…

  • Ted
  • Sarah

    Thanks for the list of sites, I really enjoyed learning about Harriet Tubman.

  • http://ubuntulinuxtipstricks.blogspot.com Mackenzie

    Badass of the Week had a really cool one about a 17 year old girl who survived in the Amazon Rainforest alone after a plane crash for a week and a half while she looked for civilization. http://www.badassoftheweek.com/koepcke.html

    • http://www.freewritingcenter.com Ryan Dube

      Okay – now that really *is* cool…if that were my daughter I’d be something proud.

  • Emily

    All I can say is, the Alaska Men website needs some SERIOUS help. Hideous shade of blue, formatted crazily, random links everywhere… The guys might be cute, but someone needs to give that site a little lovin’.

  • lakelady

    is it just me or are there other women out there that are irritated by men telling us what we “should” do.